Snow White and the Walking Dead (Part I)
by jennifbl
Summary: You can't help but love her. A sentence that seems to ring true for Guinevere McDade. With her many talents and her knack for survival, Guinevere should find it easy to survive in an apocalyptic world. Unfortunately, this isn't a perfect world and one person takes their feelings too far. Although, there is another that will protect her. Love is a funny thing.
1. Survival Instinct

'What would you do if there was Zombie apocalypse?' That is a question I asked my parents once, a long time ago after I watched my first ever Zombie movie. Their reply annoyed me, 'I would turn the telly off', even though it as a metaphorical question, I wanted a proper answer. I don't know why, I just did. Now, at this moment, I really hope they had a plan of action. I pray they do from the depths of my heart. The reason for this is; the impossible happened. It started off with just some weird stories on the news. Cannibalism, crazy acts of violence, looting and stuff like that but it was all happening in the cities. Eventually the news said that people who are eating other people won't die from being shot. They only go down permanently if they are shot in the head. Eventually it hit us.

Fuck, I'm late! I power walk down the street towards my work placement at some backstreet coroners' office in some out of the way town in Georgia, one more week and I'll be back in DC! I tell myself, then something happened, something I never thought I'd see. I thought I was going mad! A corpse I saw on a slab yesterday was currently ripping into the throat of my boss with his teeth. I stop and stare, unable to do anything else as her screams fill the air and blood spurts across the pavement. The thing didn't look up as it falls to the floor with my boss underneath him. I know what I have to do. I turn and run before it notices me.

Survival instincts kick in as I run. I make a list in my head, Car, Water, Food and Weapon, Nessa. Not necessarily in that order. I skid to a halt outside the temp house I share with my sister and fly through the door, locking it behind me, and grab my backpack from my room.

"Nessa?" I shout.

I pack some clothes, and grab the gun I technically shouldn't have but I'm perfectly capable of using, out my bedside drawer, I rip off a bunch of the pictures from my wall and shove them in my bag. I run through to Nessa's room, she's not here. I grab her bag and shove clothes in it. If she's not here she's with that stupid boyfriend of hers.

In the kitchen I pack several bottles of water and some non-perishable food, which I have a lot of considering I can't cook myself a decent meal. I pull out two boxes of ammunition from a drawer, I'm sure there is more but I can't remember where, and a butcher knife, bullets won't last forever. I check I'm not forgetting anything useful before I edge towards my door, slowly lifting my car keys from the hook and hold my gun in hand and my knife in my belt.

I peek through my spy hole and spot nothing, not entirely sure if that is good or bad but my car is right outside. I can run for it. I unlock my door quickly and fling it open and run at top speed to my car, unlocking it as I go. I cringe as the lights flash. I see out the corner of my eye a walking corpse notice me and shuffle towards me, a pal of his follows suit. I fling my car door open and throw myself in to the driver's seat and close the door loudly behind me and I lock myself in. I fumble slightly with my key into the ignition and slide the car into drive and slam on the accelerator as these walkers claw at my car door. My car flies forward and heads down the street. I try not to get distracted by the carnage and mayhem erupting around me, people going crazy, the dead eating the living. Thankful that it's a small town I push on until I reach the edge of town, and pull into the street where my sister's boyfriend lives and said sister runs in front of my car. I slam the breaks checking my rear view mirror, just in case. Nothing. I crack the window slightly. I love the girl but if she's bit I can't help her.

"Were you bit?" I ask her as she walks up to my window breathless and teary eyed.

"No, let me in the car you douche!" She snaps

I give her a sceptical look and she pretty much strips to prove it. I unlock the passenger door. "Get in, quickly"

She glares at me and runs around the car and jumps into the passenger seat and locks her door. I press on the accelerator again and drive. Not sure where we are going but I know we can't stay anywhere populated or we'll die. I glance over at Nessa and give her a small smile.

"You okay?" I ask.

She stares straight ahead "Those things ate my boyfriend, Gwen, they _ate_ him!"

I nod "I watched one eat my boss, I didn't sit around long enough to watch anything else. Got my stuff and your stuff and ran"

"How the hell did you act so fast?" Nessa asks

I shrug "Survival instinct"

She nods slowly "What do we do now?"

I shrug "I don't know, we find somewhere high and covered, we sleep in the car so there is no surprises, hopefully we can find more survivors, safety in numbers. We might even be able to pull out the tent in that case."

She looks at me surprised "You took time to pack the tent?"

I shake my head "The camping equipment is still in the boot, I never got around to taking it out"

Nessa sighs and shakes her head "Thank God for your laziness"

We end up hitting traffic outside Atlanta. Not what I was hoping for! I was hoping to take the ring road around and away. I climb out and walk up to a brown haired woman standing next to a tall dark haired man watching a couple of kids play a board game on the fold down boot of a car.

"Hi" I say with a smile.

The woman smiles back "Hello"

"What's going on?" She gives me a look of shock so I rephrase myself "Here, not in general"

She nods in understanding "We're trying to get into the city, there is a refuge centre there"

I shake my head quickly "Don't do that"

"Why?" she asks confused

"That will get overrun in a matter of hours. My sister and I are going to find somewhere high, but covered. Hopefully safe" I state.

The woman looks at the boy in worry and the man walks up behind the woman "Perhaps she's right Lori"

Another woman joins us, looking over at the city panicked. I go to follow her gaze but a large explosion happens first. People start screaming and the guy looks at me then to his little group.

"Let's get out of here" He states.

I nod in agreement and I jump in my car where Nessa is still sitting, watching Atlanta burn. I don't even bother with any car protocol and spin the wheel going half onto the grass at the edge of the motorway and drive back up the way we came.


	2. Dixon

I notice a turnoff just a few miles ahead and think this is as good as any, it's a mud track so it won't have a town up this way, a house if anything. I go up the road and glance up at my side mirror then my rear view and smile slightly.

"Looks like we've got a convoy" I say, watching the numerous cars follow mine up the road.

Nessa turns her whole body to watch "There's even an RV and a motorcycle!"

I follow the road up and up until it comes into a quarry surrounded by woods. I grin, this is perfect. I stop my car and climb out. Lori and the guy, whom I am assuming is her husband or boyfriend, and the boy from before climb out of the first car. Others follow.

The guy walks up to me and holds out his hand "Nice find. I'm Shane Walsh" He gestures to the people behind him "This is Lori and Carl Grimes"

"I'm Guinevere McDade, but people call me Gwen and that's my sister, Nessa" I say shaking Shane's hand and gesturing to Nessa.

He nods in her direction but his eyes stay glued to my face. He's hot.

"It's nice to meet you Guinevere" Shane says with a smile

"Call me Gwen, it's nice to meet you too" I say with a smile of my own.

"Nice accent" He says with a grin

"We're Scottish" I tell him

"That's amazing" He replies

I'm about to give him a seductive grin when I see someone out of the corner of my eye and my heart skips a beat. I've seen him somewhere before. The guy swings a crossbow over his shoulder then makes eye contact with me. He freezes and stares at me with a slack jaw. I smile at him and wink. He looks away with slightly red cheeks. I giggle and turn my attention back to Shane.

"Shall we meet everyone else?" I ask

He nods "Yeah, that's a good idea"

The amount of people who followed us up here is quite large which makes me happy. Safety in numbers. However, with this many people there are going to be a few nutters. One is a guy named Ed Peletier. The bastard beats his wife. Then there's Merle Dixon, the guys a dick, simple as. However, Merle's brother is the man I saw on the first day. He is as much of a red-neck as his brother but quieter and to be really honest, I think he might actually be a good guy, plus he's pretty hot, all muscles and attitude. I tend not to judge people because of their social background. I'm hardly middle class myself.

Over the next few days I would catch Daryl staring at me out of the corner of my eye, he would help me when there was heavy lifting involved and actually had conversations with me, he rarely speaks to anyone apart from his brother. I'm still trying to figure out where I've seen him before.

It only really took a couple of days to settle in and delegate duties for people. I don't know why but people kept on asking me for advice or what to do next or where they should put something or how we were going to get supplies. I ended up becoming the leader of this little group and Shane ended up as my co-pilot I guess you could say. Shane is handsy and very overprotective of me, to the point it gets a little creepy, but he seems like a decent bloke. He has a natural leader thing about him but if I'm being honest I do too. Nessa is miffed that her little sister has beaten her to leadership but she says that she knows that she is a tripping hazard and someone has to look after her!

I was helping a girl called Andrea set up her tent. She was having difficulties and her sister wasn't much help. They are both nice girls and they are helpful but my Lord I've never seen two people struggle more with a tent. They were setting up near the Dixon boys for some reason and they weren't helping them so I did. Instead of doing it for them I talked them through it step by step. They're not going to learn otherwise.

"Thanks, Gwen" Andrea says, stepping back to admire her work.

I look over the tent and she didn't do a bad job but the pegs aren't in right. Someone could trip and hurt themselves "Your pegs are sticking out of the ground"

She blushes "Sorry, I couldn't get them into the ground properly."

I smile "Its fine it can be difficult depending on the ground. I'll do it."

I start from the back and work my way around. I was pushing in the last peg when there is a small whistle from behind me followed by a voice saying "That is a nice ass you got there girl. Why don' you come help me in my tent?"

I turn around sharply to see Merle Dixon standing in front of his tent looking down at me with a suggestive smirk. I scoff "In your dreams, Dixon."

"Don' be like that, we could have fun, you and me" Merle says

I stand up and place a hand on my hip "Take your misogynistic attitude elsewhere, Dixon, it's not welcome here"

He steps forward seemingly unfazed, he probably doesn't even know what misogynistic means. "Don' you go playing hard to get now" He says while grabbing at my waist.

I feel utterly enraged. I push against him but he just laughs at my efforts. Andrea yells at him but he tells her to shut up. Another arm grabs my waist and pulls me away from Merle and into a solid chest.

"Leave her Merle, she doesn' want your ugly ass" A rough southern voice, similar to Merle's but smoother, growls.

Merle simply smirks and walks away "Whatever you say, little brother"

I look up at Daryl surprised and my hands instinctively grip his shirt, he never defends people against Merle, usually Shane does it or I do. "Daryl… Thanks"

He drops his hands from me quickly and my hands slide across the exposed area of his chest. He looks at me once before giving me a small nod and walking away. Oh God, he's so… mmm. There's not even a word, there is but I can't think of it. Handsome? Yes, Mysterious? Yes, Rough? Yes… I could just eat him!


	3. What Are You Staying For?

We've been at the quarry for about two months in total and we are running extremely low on supplies. Usually Glenn, who I've become good friends with, does the runs solo but he can't bring back enough to feed everybody. So Shane and I have a discussion about who could go and help Glenn and who we need to keep at camp but in the end it's the people's choice.

I stand on the stairs of Dale's RV and hold a little community meeting. "We need a group of people to go with Glenn to the city for supplies. We are scarily low on essentials. Who would like to volunteer?"

People raise their hands immediately and I start calling names "T-Dog, Morales, Andrea, Jacqui, Merle and Nessa?" I raise my eyebrow at the girl "You sure?"

She nods "Yeah Gwen, I'm not an invalid, I can do stuff."

I think about it nervously for a minute but nod slowly "Okay"

We agreed they would set out in the morning. Daryl also announces he's going on a hunt tomorrow. I smile at him appreciatively. That night we are sitting by a tiny, embers only fire, talking.

I take Nessa's mirror out of her hand after she starts scrutinizing her hair, it's not dirty it's just the fake blonde is coming out and her black roots are starting to look awful. Her dark brown eyes flash over at me in annoyance and she crosses her arms.

"Maybe you should invest in a black dye when you go to Atlanta" I say with a grin.

She glares at me with a pout "It's not that bad!"

"Yes, yes it is" I reply "Don't worry, I'll do it for you"

She grins, her wonderful straight teeth glow against her tanned skin "Yeah? Cool! I can never do it right"

"That's because you suck" I say with a grin so she would know I was kidding.

She laughs "Shut it you"

I pop the mirror open and do my own inspection. My own, natural black hair is no longer pristinely straight, it hasn't been since the first night here, and instead it has its natural curl back. My face is looking paler and paler everyday, which is a surprise giving the intensity of the sun. My cheeks are looking thinner and my eyes look bigger from weight lose. My eyes don't have one colour. They're a mix of every colour, blue, green, and brown with flecks of gold and violet, weird I know but it's a family thing. Scottish eyes my Grandma calls them. Despite our hair colour Nessa and I are nothing a like in looks. Dark and light is how I would describe our differences.

"Where are you from, Gwen?" Carl bursts out

I look up from the mirror and over at the young boy surprised "What?"

He flushes red "Where are you from? Your accent isn't American so I was curious" He mutters his voice trailing off.

Nessa and I both laugh a little. I answer "We're Scottish. We moved to the states, what? 3 years ago, for our PhD's. We study at Georgetown but we got placed in Georgia on a work placement for our last year."

"Unfortunately" Nessa states with a grin "Being shackled to you all your life has been a pain in my ass"

"Why lie? You love me" I retort and we both laugh again.

The groups laughs with us "What were you studying?" Shane asks.

Nessa and I both stop laughing. "Nessa was studying archaeology, I was studying Forensic Anthropology."

There is a lot of confused looks around the group "Basically, I identified dead people who have gone passed the point of recognition, burn victims, drowned victim who have been in the water too long, skeletal remains or people who are badly decomposed, usually in the medico-legal sense but I sometimes do ancient remains"

Daryl scoffs "That's a great business for ya now, that's if you can keep the dead from eating ya first"

I was actually going to smile until he asks "How you still alive if you work wi' the dead?"

I do smile but darkly "If I wasn't running late the day of the outbreak, I probably wouldn't be" No one said anything so I continue "I arrived just in time to see a man who was brought into the coroner's office the night before eat my boss, safe to say I got out there pretty sharpish. Thank God I'm streetwise or I would have been dead before I got back to my house" I say the last bit with a little laugh to lighten the mood a bit.

Merle laughs but not a nice laugh, a condescending laugh "What does a uppity, college educated princess like you know anything about bein' streetwise?"

Nessa scoff "University education is free in Scotland. If it wasn't then neither of us would have been able to go. We both worked two jobs to afford to do our masters and got our PhD on scholarship. We come from a working class background and we grew up in an extremely rough town. You learnt how to be streetwise and quick or someone would stab you for looking at them wrong. So yeah, we know a lot about being streetwise"

I laugh "What?" She barks at me

I laughs harder before choking out "You know you go all Glaswegian when you get angry, like mum"

She glares at me "You're worse! You sound all schemy!"

"What does Schemy mean" Carl asks.

"When we call someone schemy it means they're from a scheme which are council run estates for the underprivileged, it's mostly full of junkies or deadbeats. It's basically like you calling someone a hick" Nessa replies punching me a little.

Daryl eyes flick straight to Nessa and glares at her before his eyes drift over to me and stay there. "Thanks, ya wee dick" I say in the strongest Glaswegian accent I could muster. Then I punch her harder "We grew up on a scheme, bitch! You saying we're junkies and deadbeats?"

Nessa rubs her arm "Mostly, I said mostly! Stop hitting me so hard!"

"Oh, grow a pair! That didn't hurt" I tell her and she pouts

Everyone laughs apart from Daryl who continues to stare and I don't dislike it, in fact I love it.

"Are you two twins?" Carl asks

Nessa grins "Son, you should see us when our hairs are both dark, we look even more alike. Apart from the skin and the eyes" she points to my chest "And those"

I slap the upside of her head as every pair of eyes fall to my chest, a few linger "I'm 25, Nessa is 31" I say and I'm met with an unnecessarily hard punch in my arm

"Ow! What? You are!" I snap at her.

"Don't just go telling everyone my age" She pouts

I roll my eyes "You're 31 not 91, calm it"

"So you are both Doctors?" Dale asks with a laugh

I nod "I just received mine the week before the outbreak, I was actually supposed to be leaving for Washington the week after the outbreak but that obviously never happened. Nessa was going to be defending her dissertation at the same time so she doesn't have an official doctorate"

Nessa sighs audibly "8 years of hard work, studying, teaching, begging for extension, exams, countless sleepless night and stress for nothing"

I nod "My degree is bloody useless, the dead don't stay dead"

"Yours is useless? I'm an archaeologist who specializes in stratigraphy. Who the hell cares about old dirt right now?" she says.

I laugh a little "You win"

I look over at Daryl again and I have to ask "Daryl, it's been bugging me for ages now, but I've seen you somewhere before. Any ideas?"

Daryl looks a little shocked but nods all the same "Yeah, the courthouse"

A memory pops into my head. I was preparing my first case for the court in Georgia. A Murder of a 40 year old women by her husband, it was an easy case and I've testified before so I wasn't nervous. Although, that outfit was so not me it wasn't funny. I'm pretty laid back so being stuffed into a pencil skirt with a tight blouse and a short suit jacket with four inch heels wasn't my idea of fun. I remember it clearly. Court finished the husband got life and I walked out happy, unlike Britain, in America life means life. That's when I met Daryl. I collided with him on the way out of the court room. He managed to catch me around the waist before I hit the ground. Thinking back, I remember his firm hold, how strong his arm felt and the look of surprise on his face. Hell, how close his face was. He was a lot cleaner then and his shirt had sleeves.

"Watch yourself" He grunted at me as he straightened me and let me go.

I give him a big smile "Thank you"

He nods with a hint of a smile of his own.

I come out of my memory and grin "That's it! You saved me from breaking my hip on that marble floor. Not to mention the absolute ass I would've made out of myself trying to get off the floor in that stupid skirt"

Daryl watches me carefully with the tiniest hint of a smile. Merle bursts out laughing "Look at that little brother, you found 'er! Well ain't this just destiny"

I tilt my head in wonder, found her? Daryl looks mortified for a brief second before coughing and getting up and walking away. I watch him go with a smile. Did he think about me?

The next morning when the supply group were packing up to leave Nessa comes to my side "I'm going to see if I can get us guns"

I smile "I have a gun"

Nessa shakes her head "I don't"

"Since when did you start wanting a gun?" I ask suspiciously. She's silent and walks away but I'm not having that.

I head after her as she walks towards the van used for supplies and I speak so loud everyone can hear, I'm not angry but Nessa has this habit of pretending she can't hear you so I make a point of being loud when I speak to her "You're the one who said that we're British and British people don't go well with guns. You said it's better to be stabbed than shot. You said that in this world guns are too loud and using knives is easier anyway. So why do you want a gun all of a sudden?"

She stops and turns on me "It was just a suggestion!" She snaps "for security reasons, just in case, I don't know!" She flings her arms in the air.

A tear runs down her face from frustration. I smile and wipe it away quickly "Oi, don't cry. We're British, we don't cry" I state.

Nessa laughs quietly "we carry on" She finishes. 'We're British, we carry on' is a private joke between us that we took from World War II posters.

I turn her around and tap her backside "Off you go"

She propels herself forward to avoid my hand but it fails. She squeals and walks off to the van and climbs into the back. They leave and I can't help but watch after them nervously. I bite my lip and force myself to turn around.

Amy comes running up to me eagerly and asks "What can I do?"

I stare at her blankly "Do for what?"

"The camp" She replies

"Right, umm, I don't know Amy, we are really short on food maybe you can see if you can find berries or mushrooms, anything is better than nothing, but don't go too far." I state.

She grins and skips away. I shake my head and head for my tent. Amy's nice and all but my God she kind of useless. I see Daryl gearing up for his hunt and I walk over to him.

"Hi, thanks for doing this. You could probably do better on your own, yet you stay and help us. Thank you, again." As I said it I heard myself sounding like a tool.

He looks at me and actually smiles a little, well smirks. "I'm not staying for the group"

I look at him confused "Then what are you staying for?"

He lifts his hand and moves it towards my face. My eyes widen and honestly I feel a bit giddy. He pulls a strand of hair from my mouth and moves it behind my ear. I swear my breathing stopped at such a simple gesture. I feel myself moving forward. Daryl and I are an inch apart, so close I can feel his breath on my lips. Suddenly, I'm pulled back by an arm around my waist. My breathing restarts and it comes out in a gasp. I snap my head to the persons face in anger.

"Shane!" I snap.

He gives a fake smile to Daryl and states "Have a good hunt."

Daryl glares at Shane and storms off into the woods. I watch after him a little heartbroken. So fucking close! I twist in Shane's grip and he took that in the entirely wrong way because he wraps both arms around my waist and presses my chest flush into his. He dips his head and catches my lips with his. I push him away from me quickly.

"Woah, what you doing there buddy?"

He shakes his head and composes himself. "Sorry, Gwen" with that he walks away.

I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and turn around and most of the camp had seen what just happened. I look at them and snap "What?"

They all jump and go back to what they were doing. I take a deep breath and sit on the car seat turned couch. This is going to be a long few days.


	4. High as A Fucking Kite

**Nessa's P.O.V**

On the ride to Atlanta I can't help but kick myself over this decision. Why did I volunteer for this? To show Gwen I'm as good as her? To show her I wasn't weak? To prove to her that she doesn't have to protect me? I'm her big sister for Christ sake! Who knows but what I do know is that it was a stupid fucking decision.

I lean over to Glenn and ask "So what's the plan here? We jump into a store grab shit and come back?"

Glen nods "Pretty much. If everything goes smoothly we shouldn't be more than a couple of hours"

I lean back again feeling a little more relaxed "Ace"

Getting into the store was easy, Dixon volunteered to be a look out on the roof just in case the streets get so bad we have to bail early. I don't like the idea of sending Merle up to the roof in his own with a shotgun but I'm not Gwen and people don't hang on every word I say like they do with her. I know I sound bitter but I'm not, I'm just stating a fact. We all go our separate ways, that's why we are all here after all, get more stuff quickly. Gwen gave me a list last night and finding the things on it was simple and I decide to go for a black dye, my natural hair colour. I decided to dye my hair blonde after Gwen and I entered university. I've never had trouble getting a boyfriend but I've had trouble holding on to them. Gwen on the other hand just never bothered with men, choosing to be single for a long time. In her whole life she's only had one boyfriend.

The sound of Andrea's voice pulls me from my memories. "Find anything?" she asks

I nod "Yeah, toiletries and stuff" I tell her

I can feel her stare at me so I turn to her with a frown "What?"

She shrugs "We've never really spoken have we?"

I give her a small smile "No, I suppose not"

"You're always with Gwen" She states with a smile

I shrug "Yeah, she's my little sister and she keeps me out of trouble"

Andrea looks confused "Then why did you come here?"

I look down with a smirk "Because that's the problem. In this world I can't always rely on Gwen to keep me safe." I let out a little giggle "I remember when we were in second year at uni, we had been living together alone for a couple of months by this point. We lived on this island called Orkney, it's in the North of Scotland, you heard of it?"

When Andrea shakes her head I continue "Tiny little place, wet and windy all the time, anyway, I came home from work on a particularly wet and windy day and the second I walked into the living room and Gwen saw me, she went into mum mode. She took off my wet jackets, wrapped me in a warm blanket, put me in front of our little fire we had in the flat and made me a hot cup of tea and then she ran me a hot bath and afterwards we snuggled up in her bed and watched a movie. My sister and I had never been closer than that moment. The other day I realised, Gwen won't always be there to watch my back. We might get separated, something might happen to her" I look at Andrea "I might end up being the reason something happens to her. I couldn't live with myself"

Andrea nods with a smile "You two are really close"

I laugh a little "Yeah, I suppose we are"

I hear the sound of gunshots and jump in surprise "What was that?" I ask Andrea

She shrugs looking scared "It came from outside"

We both ran back to the meeting point we all agreed on and nearly collided with T-Dog, Morales and Jacqui. "Where's Glenn?" I ask in fear.

"I don't know" Morales says sound panicked.

Suddenly a voice comes through the walky "I'm back. Got a guest plus four geeks in the alley"

"A guest?" I ask worried.

T-Dog and Morales are already jumping into action and run out the door with baseball bats.

Glenn comes in with a cute guy decked on a police uniform, Morales and T-Dog enter next. Andrea is on Mr Cop with her gun in his face.

"You son of a bitch! We outta kill you!" She hisses angrily

"Just chill out, Andrea. Back off." Morales snaps "Come on, ease up."

"Ease up? You're kidding me, right? We're dead because of this stupid asshole." Andrea snaps

"Andrea, I said back the hell off" Morales says impatiently when she doesn't he sighs "Well, pull the trigger."

Andrea lowers her gun and steps backwards slowly with tears in her eyes "We're dead… All of us… Because of you."

The cop looks baffled and I watch him carefully, is he stupid?

"I don't understand." He says

Morales grabs the cops shoulder and steers him into the shop "Look, we came into the city to scavenge supplies. You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving! You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it's the O.K. Corral."

"Every geek for miles around heard you popping off rounds." T-Dog snaps

The sound of groaning gets all of our attention and we all look to see walkers pressing themselves into the shop doors "You just rang the dinner bell." Andrea sighs

"Get the picture now?" Morales asks

"Oh God. What the hell were you doing out there anyway?" Andrea asks

"Trying to flag the helicopter." The cop replies and I look at him confused

"Helicopter? Man, that's crap. Ain't no damn helicopter." T-Dog scoffs

"You were chasing a hallucination, imagining things. It happens." Jacqui says

"I saw it." Cop man snaps defensively

"Hey, T-Dog, try that C.B. Can you contact the others?" Morales asks

"Others? The refugee center?" Cop asks, now I'm really confused

"Have you been living under a rock?" I ask with a raised eyebrow

Jacqui scoffs "Yeah, the refugee center. They've got biscuits waiting at the oven for us."

I hear T-Dog speaking into the CB and I hold my hand out to the stranger. As Gwen would say: The world may have ended but my manners haven't.

"I'm Nessa McDade, what's your name?" I ask

The cop takes my hand with a smile and shakes "Rick Grimes"

I smile back "Nice to meet you Rick Grimes, despite you kind of fucking us over here but I'm not one to hold a grudge"

Rick continues to smile and he relaxes a little "Is that an accent?"

I nod "Yeah, I'm Scottish so is my sister back at our camp. She's our leader. You'll like her. Everyone does"

"Got no signal. Maybe the roof?" T-Dog says interrupting our conversation

Above, on the roof, I hear a gun firing and Andrea and I groan simultaneously "Oh no. Is that Dixon?" Andrea asks

"What is that maniac doing?" Morales snaps

"Come on, let's go." Glenn says and we all run for the roof

We burst through the roof door and there is Merle shooting off rounds like nobodies business!

"Hey, Dixon, are you crazy?!" T-Dog shouts

Merle laughs and continues shooting.

"Oh jeez." Andrea groans

"Hey! Y'all be more polite to a man with a gun! Huh? Ah! Only common sense." Merle says and I can feel my blood boiling

"Man, you wasting bullets we ain't even got!" T-Dog snaps as we all move up to where Merle is standing. Merle just laughs again "And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill." T-Dog continues

"Hey! Bad enough I've got this taco-bender on my ass all day. Now I'm gonna take orders from you? I don't think so, bro. That'll be the day." Merle says and my jaw drops

""That'll be the day"? You got something you want to tell me?" T-Dog asks

"Hey, T-Dog man, just leave it." Morales says

"No." T-Dog says getting aggressive

"All right? It ain't worth it. Now Merle, just relax, okay? We've got enough trouble." Morales says trying to diffuse the situation but Merle ain't having it

"You want to know the day?" Merle asks T

"Yeah." T replies

"I'll tell you the day, Mr. "Yo." It's the day I take orders from a nigger." Merle says

T-Dog pounces for Merle "Mother…"

Merle and T-Dog start to fight and Merle is winning. Everyone starts to protest but nobody is doing anything and it's pissing me off. I don't know what has taken over me but I feel like this is something Gwen would do. I move forward and with a strength that I didn't know I had, I pull Merle off of T-Dog and push him back into the wall.

"Stop it!" I snap at him

Merle looks pissed as he stands "That hot sister of yours isn't here to protect you, you little bitch"

Merle does something I never would expect, he pulls back his fist and punches me in the face. I feel my nose snap and a blind rage shoots through me. The Scottish comes out and I throw myself on Merle and start to beat the crap out of him. Merle tries to fight back and although I may not be as strong as Gwen physically, I'm a damn right stronger than any red-neck trash, KKK wanna-be!

The safety of a gun goes off and Merle presses the barrel against my temple. I freeze and Merle scoffs "Yeah, that's right. You British princesses can't handle guns right?"

"No, no, no, please. Please." I hear Andrea plead from behind me

"Yeah! All right! We're gonna have ourselves a little powwow, huh? Talk about who's in charge. I vote me. Anybody else? Huh? Democracy time, y'all. Show of hands, huh? All in favour? Huh? Come on. Let's see 'em. Oh, come on. All in favour?" He presses the gun against my temple harder "Yeah. That's good." I assume people have raised their hands. I see Rick from over Merle's shoulder with the shotgun "Now that means I'm the boss, right? Yeah. Anybody else? Hmm? Anybody?"

"Yeah." Rick says and as Merle turns confused Rick smacks him across the face

I dive forward and I'm caught by Andrea who is looking at my face in concern "Are you okay?" she asks

I nod "Yeah" Actually I'm not. My face hurts and I'm too much of a princess for this!

I hear metal on metal and turn in Andrea's grip. Rick has cuffed Merle to a pipe "Who the hell are you, man?!" Merle yells angrily

"Officer friendly." Rick replies sarcastically "Look here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no niggers anymore. No dumb-as-shit, inbred white-trash fools either. Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart."

"Screw you, man." Merle says calmly

"I can see you make a habit of missing the point." Rick snaps

"Yeah? Well, screw you twice." Merle replies

"Ought to be polite to a man with a gun." Rick mimics Merle's earlier statement and hovers his gun near Merle's head. "Only common sense."

Merle shrugs "You wouldn't. You're a cop."

"All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and son. Anybody that gets in the way of that is gonna lose. I'll give you a moment to think about that. Got some on your nose there." Rick says. Something on his nose?

"What are you gonna do? Arrest me?" Merle says with a laugh as Rick stands

Rick pulls something out of Merle's bag and tosses it off the roof and Merle just losses it.

"Hey! What are you doing? Man, that was my stuff! Hey! If I get loose, you'd better pray… Yeah, you hear me, you pig?! You hear me?!" Merle shouts loudly.

I scoff and Andrea looks at me strangely "He's high as a fucking kite" I tell her

Andrea's eyes widen "On what?"

I shrug "It's been a so long since I got high I wouldn't know what to ask for anymore"

Andrea looks at me shocked and I shrug "What? I used to do a lot of shit I'm not proud of" I state and look towards Rick and Morales.


	5. Tougher Than My Sister

Gwen and I come from a shitty background. Our parents loved us and would die for us in a heartbeat but our dad's work wasn't an honest living. Our dad was a Mob Boss. Very well respected in our area, kind of feared… okay mostly feared but he didn't kill anybody of anything, he just didn't roll that way but he wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty. However, you fuck with one of his kids he won't hesitate to kill someone. I was a pain in the ass as a kid, I took advantage of my dad's influence to manipulate people. I also used it to get free drugs. Gwen helped me turn my life around.

"My God, it's like Times Square down there." Andrea says, shaking me out of my reverie. I look over the roof and flinch at the number of walkers down on the street

"How's that signal?" Morales asks T

"Like Dixon's brain… Weak." T-Dog replies from the ground, holding the CB. I snort with laughter

"Keep trying." Morales tells him

"Why? There's nothing they can do. Not a damn thing." Andrea says pessimistically

"That wouldn't stop Gwen" I tell her.

Andrea nods "That's why we shouldn't try. Gwen will get herself killed"

"Who's Gwen?" Rick asks

"Our leader, Nessa's sister, she's really nice. You'll like her. Everybody does" Andrea replies.

"There's more of you?" Rick asks

"Got some people outside the city is all. There's no refugee centre. That's a pipe dream." Morales tells him

"Then she's right. We're on our own. It's up to us to find a way out." Rick says

"Good luck with that." Merle says "These streets ain't safe in this part of town from what I hear." Merle looks at me and winks "Ain't that right, sugar tits? Hey, honeybunch, what say you get me out of these cuffs, we go off somewhere and bump some uglies? Forgive and forget and all. Gonna die anyway."

I scoff "Yeah right, like that would ever happen. You might have ruined my face asshole!"

"Rug muncher. I figured as much." Merle scoffs

I smirk "I would rather be rug muncher than touch you"

That shut Merle up.

"The streets ain't safe." Rick says

"Now there's an understatement." Morales replies

"What about under the streets? The sewers?" Rick asks

"Oh man. Hey, Glenn, check the alley. You see any manhole covers?" Morales says

Glenn jumps up and run to the other end of the roof and looks over "No, must be all out on the street where the geeks are." Glenn states running back to us

"Maybe not. Old building like this built in the '20, big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flooding down in the subbasements." Jacqui says

"How do you know that?" Glenn asks

"It's my job, was. I worked in the city zoning office." Jacqui replies

"Worth a shot like. Despite this weather doin' glorious things for my tan, I'd rather not starve to death" I say looking down at my bronze arms. I said it before I'll say it again me and Gwen are literally like Darkness and Light.

All of us apart from T and Merle head down to the basements to check for a sewer, and as luck would have it, we found one.

"This is it? Are you sure?" Morales asks Gwen as we peer down into the sewer

"I really scoped this place out the other times I was here. It's the only thing in the building that goes down. But I've never gone down it. Who'd want to, right?" Glenn says

"Couldn't pay me" I say leaning on the bannister.

I look around at the group and they're staring at Glenn and I roll my eyes. Poor Glenn.

"Oh. Great." Glenn says sarcastically

"We'll be right behind you." Andrea says

"No, you won't. Not you." Glenn says firmly

"Why not me? Think I can't?" Andrea asks harshly and I roll my eyes, why would she even want to?

Glenn looks worried "I wasn't…"

Rick puts his hand on Glenn's shoulder "Speak your mind."

Glenn sighs "Look, until now I always came here by myself. In and out, grab a few things, No problem. The first time I bring a group, everything goes to hell. No offense. If you want me to go down this gnarly hole, fine… But only if we do it my way. It's tight down there. If I run into something and have to get out quick, I don't want you all jammed up behind me getting me killed. I'll take one person…" He points at Rick before he can talk "Not you either. You've got Merle's gun and I've seen you shoot. I'd feel better if you were out in that store watching those doors, covering our ass. And you've got the only other gun, so you should go with him and Ness your tough as hell, you go with them" He points to Morales "You be my wingman. Jacqui stays here. Something happens, yell down to us, get us back up here in a hurry."

I smirk a little. I like people believing I'm tough, I'm not, but if people believe it they tend not to mess with me. It's how I get through life. Don't get me wrong I can beat the shit out of someone easily but I'm chicken shit. Gwen is the sweet one on the outside. On the inside, bitch can get proper psycho!

Rick's voice brings me out of my thoughts, I gotta stop spacing out! "Okay, everybody knows their jobs."

"Let's go" I say to Andrea and Rick as I walk past them towards the store. I flinch a little when I see the sheer number of walkers at the doors. Oh nu uh! I'm not liking this even a little bit!

Rick touches my shoulder "You okay?"

I straighten my back "Yeah, peachy" I point to the doors "Crazy right? I would've hated it if I woke up to this and had no idea where my sister was." I cough a little when I realize how human I sounded "Well, you know. The dead walking is just inconvenient"

I can feel Rick's eyes on me and my brain goes into defensive mode. I look up at him with a glare "What?" I snap

He shakes his head with a smile "You like to put on a front don't you?"

I feel surprised but my face just falls into a deeper frown "I don't put on a front, pal. Don't act like you know me" I look away then take a deep breath "Sorry, you're right, I do put on a front. I have too" I look up at him with a smile "My baby sister is the leader of the group. I feel like I need to be tougher than she is"

Rick smiles at me and nods. I point at his face "Don't tell anyone I told you that"

He raises his hands "I promise"

I walk away from him and walk around the store. When I come back he's talking to Andrea who is holding a necklace and smiling. The glass shattering turns my blood cold.

"Oh, shit" I say as calmly as possible. The walkers got through the first set of double doors.

Glenn, Morales and Jacqui appear behind us "What did you find down there?" Rick asks them

"Not a way out." Morales replies

"Fan-fucking-tastic" I say with a groan

"We need to find a way and soon." Andrea says

"Let's get back to the roof. See if T had any luck getting in touch with the others" I say and turn around.

Back on the roof, Rick uses Morale's binoculars to look for an exit strategy "That construction site, those trucks, they always keep keys on hand." Rick says handing the binoculars back to Morales

"You'll never make it past the walkers." Morales says

"You got me out of that tank." Rick says, looking at Glenn

"Yeah, but they were feeding. They were distracted." Glenn says

"Can we distract them again?" Rick asks

"Right. Listen to him. He's onto something. A diversion, like on "Hogan's Heroes."" Merle says from the pipe, I forgot he was here

"God. Give it a rest." Jacqui snaps. I look at her curiously. What's Hogan's Heroes?

"They're drawn by sound, right?" Rick asks

"Right, like dogs. They hear a sound, they come." Glenn says

"What else?" Rick asks

"Aside from they hear you? They see you, smell you and if they catch you, they eat you." Morales replies bluntly

"They can tell us by smell?" Rick asks

"Can't you?" Glenn asks with a scoff

"They smell dead, we don't. It's pretty distinct." Andrea says

The look that dawns on Rick's face makes me feel queasy "Oh, mate, you're not thinking what I think you are right?" I ask in disgust

Rick looks at me and nods. I look away "Ew, that's rank"

"What?" Morales asks

"We make ourselves smell like them" Rick replies "We'll grab one from the ally, chop it up and smear ourselves with the blood"

"Yeah but if their blood get in you it might infect you" I tell him

Rick nods "We'll wear jackets and gloves, I saw some down in the store."

Glenn sighs "I'll go with you"

Rick nods and we head down to the store. Rick grabs all the stuff we need and shoves it into our arms "If bad ideas were an Olympic event, this would take the gold." Glenn says nervously

"He's right. Just stop, okay? Take some time to think this through." Morales says

"How much time? They already got through one set of doors, that glass won't hold forever." Rick replies.

I jump a little on the spot "Let's just get this shit over with!"

Rick and Morales run out and grab one of the corpses that was killed earlier and drag it into the building. I kit myself out in the ugly grey jackets and the thick blue gloves that Rick handed me. We all look like Frankenstein's assistants or something. Rick gets the axe from the wall and comes over to us as we surround the corpse. Rick lifts the axe to start chopping but stops. He suddenly kneels down and searches the walker before pulling out its wallet. I raise an eyebrow at him. What's he doing? It's not like his money's worth anything.

"Wayne Dunlap. Georgia license. Born in 1979." Rick hands the drives licence to Glenn "He had $28 in his pocket when he die and a picture of a pretty girl." Rick pulls out the picture and turns it over "With love, from Rachel. He used to be like us. Worrying about bills or the rent or the Super Bowl. If I ever find my family, I'm gonna tell them about Wayne."

We're all silent for a moment. Personally, I don't see what that accomplished. Now I just feel bad for chopping the dead guy up. What? I'm not a very nice person.

"One more thing" Glenn says looking around at us "He was an organ donor."

I contain the urge to smile. Ironic. Rick lifts the axe and starts chopping. We all cringe as the smell becomes overwhelming. Glenn looks like he's about to puke. By the time Rick stops chopping we're all feeling ill.

Rick hands the axe and his helmet to Morales and says "keep chopping"

"Uh, I am so going to hurl" Glenn moans

"Later" Rick says

"Everybody got gloves? Don't get any on your skin or in your eyes." Rick warns

I lean over first and pick up a handful of blood and some guts and plaster it on Rick's coat. Glenn has a mini heart attack as he is covered with walker entrails. Rick studies my face as I cover him.

"Not squeamish?" He ask, trying to distract himself.

I shrug "I wish I could tell ya this was the first chopped up body I've seen"

That earns me a look of shock "I didn't do the killing or the chopping by the way" I say firmly. My cousin did. I'm not gonna say that out loud.

Glenn is still groaning loudly. The smell is just fucking awful! "Think about something else… Puppies and kittens." Rick says

"Dead puppies and kittens." T-Dog says and Glenn throws up. I look at T-Dog in disgust, let's not bring the dead baby animals into this.

"That is just evil. What is wrong with you?" Andrea snaps at T

Jacqui turn to me and says "Next time let the cracker beat his ass."

"I'm sorry, yo." T says guiltily

"You suck." Glenn whines

"Do we smell like them?" Rick asks wrinkling his nose

"Oh yeah." Andrea says and we all nod in agreement. She pulls out her gun and offers it to Glenn "Glenn. Just in case." She gingerly shoves it in his belt

"If we make it back, be ready." Rick says

"What about Merle Dixon?" T asks bitterly

Rick reaches into his pocket and pulls out the handcuff key and chucks it to T. T-Dog looks at it for a moment before stepping back.

"Hand me the axe, we need more guts" Rick says

Ten minutes later, Rick and Glenn head out and the rest of us strip ourselves of the blood covered clothes and bolt up to the roof.

"Hey, what's happening, man?" Merle yells at us as we run the roofs edge in search of the boys

"Hey, T-Dog, try that C.B." Morales says

"Hey, come on. Talk to me, y'all." Merle pleads

"Base camp, this is T-Dog. Anybody hear me? Can anybody out there hear me?" T speaks into the C.B.

Morales lifts his binoculars and searches the area "There" He says and points.

I follow his finger and see the blood socked jackets and Glenn's hat. I laugh a little in disbelief "Would you look at that? It worked!"

Andrea and I exchange a grin. The smiles are wiped off both our faces when thunder roars from above. "That can't be good" I say

"That asshole is out on the street with the handcuff keys?" I hear Merle ask but I pay no attention.

I turn when I hear staticy voices on the C.B. "Shane, is that you?" T says "We're in some deep shit. We're trapped in the department store" Static but no reply "There are geeks all over the place. Hundreds of 'em. We're surrounded." Static follows then the line goes dead.

I'm distracted as water hits my forehead "What the?" I look up as the heavens open. "Oh great!" I snap and stare back at the street in worry.

"Oh man. It's just a cloudburst. We get 'em all the time. It'll pass real quick" Morales says

I frown "It's heavy. It'll wash the blood away"

"And how do you know that?" Merle growls at me

"It's water dumbass! That's what it does" I say back impatiently.

"She's right! They're running!" Morales says.

I watch as the boys jump the fence and get into the truck. The walkers takes down the fence and the truck turns and drives off in the opposite direction.

"Oh, no! They're leaving us! No, Come back" Andrea panics

"They're not leavin'. If they come straight back we'll just be swamped with walkers when we try and get out. They're leading them away" I tell her. Surprising myself.

Glenn's voice as well as a very annoying alarm comes through the talky "Those roll-up doors at the front of the store facing the street. Meet us there and be ready"

I grin and grab my bag "You heard the man let's go!" I shout and run.

The others follow. Two steps down the stairs I lose my footing and I let out a scream as I fall forward. My body hits violently off every metal step. A sharp pain floods through my arm. I lose consciousness as I hit concrete.

I'm come to "Nessa? Ness? You okay?" Andrea ask, she sounds worried.

I nod slowly. We're moving "Are we out?" I ask drowsily

"Yeah, yeah, we're out" Andrea replies.

I pass out again


	6. We Don't Abandon Family

**Gwen's P.O.V**

There was a call over the radio that no one could answer from a guy. An argument broke out. Lori wants to go down to the highway to warn people away from Atlanta.

"That's a good idea, I'll come with you" I state.

"No!" Shane snaps.

"You do not get to tell me what to do!" I state dangerously.

"I do if it is for the good of the group." He says calmly, gripping onto my elbow.

I open my mouth to argue and he pulls me away. I shake him off as he pushes me into my tent gently.

I put a hand on my hip "What?!"

"We need to stay united! For the group! They look up to us" He states in a low whisper.

I roll my eyes "That's a two way street Shane! You have to back me up too!"

He strokes my cheek and I flinch under his touch. He ignores it "If it doesn't risk your life, I will"

I shake my head and leave the tent.

The very same day we get another radio call from the team in Atlanta, thank God, I thought they would never get in touch. I run over and as I do I only here a little bit.

"He said they're trapped" Shane states. I have to admire that, I heard static.

I turn towards my tent aiming to get my car keys "I'm going after them"

"No way. We do not go after them. We do not risk the rest of the group. Y'all know that."

Amy snaps "So we're just gonna leave her there?"

Shane rolls his eyes "Look, Amy, I know that this is not easy…"

Amy looks on the verge of tears "She volunteered to go to help the rest of us."

"I know, and she knew the risks, right? See, if she's trapped, she's gone. So we just have to deal with that. There's nothing we can do." Shane states

"She's my sister, you son of a bitch." Amy growls and storms away.

I clap sarcastically "That was nicely handled, Shane"

"Don't start Gwen" Shane sighs.

"They are our family Shane, we do not abandon family" I snap.

He grabs my face "You are the only person I want to protect!"

I stare at him darkly "So if I went it would be different"

"Ye…" He catches himself. Gotcha!

"Double standards much" I walk away from him. That is why I will never like Shane romantically. There is a difference between putting someone first and only caring for one person.

I spent the next couple of hours contemplating how to work Atlanta. I've never even been there for more than a shopping trip, once! Then I hear a horrible alarm noise and I fly out of my tent in panic. I see a red sports car coming up the road and my mouth drops. The noise! Noise is bad!

Glenn steps out of the car grinning and Dale snaps "Holy crap. Turn that damn thing off!"

"I don't know how?" Glenn shouts over the noise.

"Jesus, move out my way" I say to Shane who is just staring under the hood of the car.

I disconnect the battery to stop the noise.

Amy yells at Glenn "Where's Andrea is she okay?" Then everyone else starts yelling over each other.

"Everyone calm the fuck down!" I scream over everyone.

They look at me and I point to the van coming up the road. "You people are scarily unobservant."

The van pulls up and everyone comes flying out, hugging their loved ones. I hold my breath when I can't see Nessa but she stumbles out last covered in her own blood, supported by T-Dog.

"Oh my God!" I scream running over to her. I grab onto her and T-dog transfers her weight onto me but standing by just in case. "What the hell happened? Was she bit?"

"No, she wasn't bit. She's banged up pretty bad though" T-Dog replies

Next thing I hear is Carl shout "Dad!" I twist slightly and watch Lori and Carl fling themselves into the arms of a tall, cute cop with brown hair. How do I know he's a cop? His uniform, that's how. Oh look at that he knows Shane too.

He let's go of Lori and Carl and comes over to Nessa and I. "Hi" he says.

"Hi" I reply.

He takes one of Nessa's arms and helps me walk her to our tent, where I patch Nessa up the best I can. Her lip is bust, her nose is broken and she's got a cracking bruise on her forehead, her arm looks like it was gouged by something and her legs are all bruised with a lovely looking graze on one of her knees. I may not be that kind of Doctor but I do know how to put in stitches. I stay with her for a few hours.

It's dark when I leave the tent and everyone is sitting by our makeshift hearth. I can't help but think of the archaeological context here. I sit near Rick.

I look at Lori first "I'm sorry I know you just got your husband back but…" I look back at Rick "What happened to Nessa?"

He shakes his head "She had a bad time. She got punched in the face by Merle then fell down a flight of stairs on the way out. If it means anything, she beat the crap out of Merle. She's tough"

I smile "I guess I owe her an apology"

"You should have seen her Gwen" Andrea says. I turn to her "She was amazing"

"I really didn't think she had it in her. Guess I was wrong. I was right about the tripping though! I knew it was bound to happen" I say with a grin and the group laugh.

Shane comes back from somewhere and sits next to me, putting his arm on the back of my chair. "Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind"

"Oh shit that is not good, Daryl will freak" I state accidentally leaning into Shane's shoulder.

"I'll tell him. I dropped the key. It's on me" T-Dog states

Rick shakes his head "I cuffed him. That makes it mine."

"Guys, it's not a competition. I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy." Glenn states. I was about to argue but I can't.

T-Dog shakes his head "I did what I did. Hell if I'm gonna hide from him"

"We could lie." Amy suggests.

"Or tell the truth. Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed. Your husband did what was necessary. And if Merle got left behind, it is nobody's fault but Merle's." Andrea states

Dale speaks up "And that's what we tell Daryl? I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you? Word to the wise… We're gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt."

"Dale's right, Daryl's a good guy but he has a short fuse. His brother is all he has" I say making Shane scoff. I glare at him.

"I was scared and I ran. I'm not ashamed of it." T-Dog states

Andrea asks "We were all scared. We all ran. What's your point?"

T-Dog replies "I stopped long enough to chain that door. Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. It's not enough to break through that… Not that chain, not that padlock. My point… Dixon's alive and he's still up there, handcuffed on that roof. That's on us."

"Well on that depressing note, I am going to bed" I state standing up.

Shane stands up too. I give him a look saying 'oh hells no'

He slowly sinks back down and I leave. I enter the tent and Nessa is still fast asleep. I lie down beside her and fall asleep.


	7. Be Grateful

I wake up crazy early and leave the tent, trying not to wake up Nessa. I'm the first to wake up. I decide I should work on my car, it needs a serious tune up, I need to check the water, check the oil and the battery and all of that. I tie my hair up and tie my tank top so my stomach is showing. It's hot! I work on my car for about ten minutes when I hear a tent zip open.

"Good morning Gwen" I wipe my face and turn to the voice.

"Morning Lori" She stops and stares at me

"How is it that you have sweat everywhere, oil on your face and your hair looking crazy, yet you are still absolutely beautiful?"

I raise an eyebrow at her "I'm not" I state.

"Yes you are" she sings and walks away.

Everyone else wakes up shortly after. I'm still working on my car when Shane comes up to me "Gwen?"

I turn to him and he stops in his tracks. He stares at me so long I'm starting to feel self conscious.

"Yes?" I ask

He shakes himself out of the probably perverted thoughts he is having. "We need to delegate work for today."

I shrug "you do it, I'm looking after Nessa today"

He nods and trips over himself walking away. A couple of moments later Rick makes an appearance as I close the hood of my car "Morning officer!" I call with a wave.

He stares at me for a moment before waving back with a smile. I grin and head back to my tent. I step in and I hear Nessa groan and say "You smell like oil"

I tap her foot gently with mine "You love it" 

"I do" She says with a giggle sitting up.

I sit on my blow up mattress "How you feeling?"

"Sore" she replies.

"I heard what you did for Rick. That was brave, man. I owe you an apology, doubting you and that. I won't doubt you again. I promise." I say grabbing her hand.

She smiles at me "Thanks Gwen, I'm starving and I'm roasting in this tent" She stands up on uneasy legs, using my hand has leverage.

I stand up after her and help her outside and help her over the fire. Amy hands her a bottle of water and some beans which the group brought back with them.

I smile at Amy and Nessa thanks her. Amy really is a good girl. That's when I heard a scream. I lift my head trying to locate the noise then I heard Carl yell for his parents. I grab a bat sitting at Nessa's feet and run towards the woods after Rick and Lori and Shane at my heels. Carl falls into his mothers arms. She fusses over him and Sophia runs to Carol. Both kids are okay. Thank God.

I run right past them in the direction Jacqui points in. I'm the first to arrive and what I see stops me in my tracks. A walker eating a deer, he doesn't even look up when I skid to a halt behind it. I also notice two bolts sticking out of the deer's ass. Daryl. I look around me and watch as Shane, Rick, Morales, Glenn, Jim and Dale are all present and are fanning around the walker and its meal. I hear Amy gasp behind me and so must have the walker because it stands up and looks directly at Rick before growling and moving towards him. Rick smacks it in the head and the walker stumbles back. Then Shane has a go with the butt of his gun. Then everyone joins in, including myself. Eventually Dale chops its head off with his axe.

"This is the first one we've had up here" Dale states, sounding out of breath and alarmed. "They never come this far up the mountain"

"Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what." Jim says which sounds logical.

A moment later I hear twigs snapping and footsteps. We are all on edge as the footsteps get closer then Daryl Dixon appears through the trees then stops in his tracks surprised as he sees us all weapons in hand and Shane's gun pretty much in his face.

I let out a breath and lower my weapon. He notices the deer and huffs "Son of a Bitch that's my deer! Look at it!" He storms over the walker's corpse "All gnawed on by this-" then he starts kicking it while saying angrily "filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!"

"Calm down son, that's not helping" Dale states

"What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to "on golden pond"?" Daryl says irritably getting up into Dale's face before turning back to the deer "I've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison" He kneels down next to it and indicates to the bitten area and looks at me "What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?"

I shake my head looking at the deer in disgust. I'd rather starve but I don't say that out loud.

"I would not risk that" Shane replies.

"That's a damn shame. I got some squirrel… about a dozen or so. That'll have to do." Daryl says sounding a lot calmer now.

Suddenly the walker's eyes open and it teeth start snapping even though its head is detached from its body. I happen to be standing right next to it and my hearts skips a beat as I jump away from it shouting "Jesus!" and fall to the ground.

I hear Amy say "Oh God" and footsteps. She must have bolted. I don't blame her.

"Come on people, what the hell?" Daryl says before shooting it in the head with an arrow before holding his hand out for me. I take it and he pulls me up, dropping my hand immediately as though it burned him and he says "It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothing?"

He walks away after that and into camp shouting for his brother "Merle, Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up." He places his crossbow down next to the fire and looks around for his brother.

I walk after him quickly, Shane's ahead of me and calls to him "Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you."

Daryl turns on him "About what?"

"About Merle. There was a… There was a problem in Atlanta." Shane says picking his words carefully.

There was an uncomfortable silence before Daryl asks "He dead?"

"We're not sure" Shane states calmly

Daryl snaps "Either he is or he ain't"

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." Rick speaks up and moves from behind me to standing next to me.

"Who are you?" Daryl asks sounding a little aggressive

"Rick Grimes"

"Rick Grimes" Daryl mocks "You got something you want to tell me?" He snaps.

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there." Rick states. I suck in a deep breath thinking 'this is not going to go down well'. I was right.

Daryl starts pacing looking pissed as fuck "Hold on. Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!" He shouts the last bit in Rick's face.

"Yeah" Rick says

Daryl looks like he's about to pop and he launches the squirrels at Rick, who ducks to avoid them, then pounces for him but Shane jumps him before he can. I step back out the way as the boys land at my feet. Daryl pulls his knife out of his belt and stands up.

"Watch the knife" calls T-Dog.

Daryl lunges for Rick again, swinging the knife as he goes. Rick defends himself and Shane grabs him in a headlock as Rick knocks the knife out of Daryl's hand. I pick it up so he can't use it again.

"You best let me go!" Daryl shouts at Shane.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't" Shane states.

"Chock holds illegal!" Daryl snaps

"You can file a complaint. Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day." Shane replies

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that? Do you think we can manage that?" Rick asks kneeling down to he is at eye level with Daryl.

Daryl struggles against Shane again and breaks free. I throw myself between him and Rick and Daryl tries to stop but he ends up knocking me to the ground, him on top of me. I push him onto his back a little harsher than I meant to and sit on his stomach. He looks up in shock.

"Daryl, stop it!" I snap "Beating the shit out of Rick will not help anyone, especially you. So will you just calm the fuck down?"

"Yeah" Daryl mutters and I slowly slide off him and to my feet.

He stays on the ground breathing heavily as Rick once again kneels down to look him in the eye "What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others."

Yeah, we know.

"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it." T-Dog states and all eyes turn to him.

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl asks like it is the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well I dropped it in a drain"

Daryl makes a strange noise as if he is trying to stop himself crying then stands up "If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't."

"Well, maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof… So the geeks couldn't get at him… With a padlock" T-Dog explains

"It's gotta count for something" Rick says.

Daryl wipes his eyes aggressively "Hell with all y'all! Just tell me where he is so that I can go get him."

"He'll show you" Lori states looking at Rick "Isn't that right?"

Rick looks around at all of us and says "I'm going back"

I watch as Lori disappears into the RV, clearly upset. I would be too. Daryl storms off too. I follow him as he picks up his crossbow and goes into his tent.

"Knock, knock" I say standing at the door to the tent.

He turn on me harshly "What do you want?"

I'm taken a back by his abrasive attitude when not 24 hours earlier he was caressing my cheeks and hinting that he's only at this camp for me. I mean yeah I did pin him to the ground and probably damaged is pride a little but there is no need to be rude.

I glare at him in response, pissed off and remembering why I don't date. I drop his knife into the tent "You dropped something" I state coldly before storming off.

I walk up to Nessa. She jumps as I drop down next to her angrily. Daryl comes up as well. He looks at me and I look in the opposite direction until I hear Shane say "Could you just tell me why? Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?" My eyes move to him.

"Hey choose your words more carefully" Daryl threatens.

Shane looks at him "No, I did. Douche bag's what I meant." He looks back at Rick "Merle Dixon…The guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst."

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me. I can't let a man die of thirst… me. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being." Rick states. 

"So you and Daryl? That's your big plan?" Lori asks sceptically.

Rick looks at Glenn pointedly who sighs in despair "Oh, come on."

"You know the way. You've been there before… In and out, no problem. You said so yourself. It's not fair of me to ask… I know that, but I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would too." Rick pleads.

"That's just great. Now you're gonna risk three men, huh?" Shane snaps.

"4" T-Dog says.

"My day just gets better and better, don't it?" Daryl scoffs.

That angers me "Don't turn your nose up at help! You should be fucking grateful these people are willing to help you!" I snap at him.

T-Dog speaks diffusing the tension "You see anybody else here stepping up to save your brother's cracker ass?"

"Why you?" Daryl asks

"You wouldn't even begin to understand. You don't speak my language." T-Dog replies.

"That's four" Dale says.

"It's not just four. You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that Walker. It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need 'em here. We need 'em to protect camp." Shane argues

"It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns." Says Rick calmly

"Right, the guns!" Glenn says remembering something.

"Wait, what guns?" Shane asks confused

"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns. I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up." Rick explains.

I stand up and walk over to him "Ammo?" Shane ask

"700 rounds, assorted" Rick replies

"You went through hell to find us. You just got here and you're gonna turn around and leave?" Lori argues.

"Dad, I don't want you to go" Carl pleads.

Rick looks conflicted and Lori stands up "To hell with the guns. Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in. Tell me. Make me understand."

"I owe a debt to a man I met and his little boy. Lori, if they hadn't taken me in, I'd have died. It's because of them that I made it back to you at all. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warn him." Rick explains.

"What's stopping you?" Lori asks

"The walkie-talkie, the one in the bag I dropped. He's got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer." Rick replies

"Our walkies?" Shane asks.

"Yeah"

"So use the CB what's wrong with that?" Andrea asks

"The CB's fine. It's the walkies that suck to crap… Date back to the '70s, don't match any other bandwidth… Not even the scanners in our cars." Shane explains.

"I need that bag" Rick says to Lori. She simply puts her head down.

He walks over to Carl and kneels down in front of him "okay?" Carl nods slowly.

A while later they leave. I said goodbye to Glenn, T-dog and Rick and I didn't even acknowledge Daryl and now I feel guilty as hell. What if something happens to him!


	8. Chocked

"Gwen?" I spin around and see Nessa, her lip is swollen, her nose is bruised but she still keeps a smile on her face.

"Yeah?"

"Where's your washing, I'll do it for you." She says

"No, I'll do it" I state.

"No what you need is a wash. Put your suit on and come down." I nod and follow her to the tent.

I change into my bikini in front of her…we're way past the embarrassed about being naked thing, even before the world went to crap, come on, we're sisters. I wrap a towel around myself and head down to the lake with her. The other women are setting up as a take off my towel and wade in.

"Finally washing that oil off Gwen?" Andrea asks with a grin. "You shouldn't, it suits you"

I laugh "Thanks, but it will become my natural smell if I don't get rid of it"

"You're too pretty clean" complains Amy "Just stay dirty and be equal to us"

I laugh again "No I'm not"

Amy looks at my chest and her jaw drops "Are they real?" She asks

I look down at my double D's and nod "Yip, they're real, bit of a bitch nowadays though, they get in the way"

Amy pouts "Not fair"

Nessa laughs "How do you think I feel? Bitch won the genetic lottery, huge tits, perfect teeth and tallish."

The women laugh as I sink into the water to hide my chest.

"You've got perfect teeth" I tell her with a raised eyebrow.

She grins "I know but I'm 5 foot nothing and a flat chested"

I laugh "Sucks to be you"

I clean and just lay in the water a while listening to the woman talk. Moments later I hear splashing and look up to see Shane splashing crazily in the water and Carl is standing in the water laughing. 

"Can someone explain to me how the women wound up doing all the Hattie McDaniel work?" Jacqui asks.

"The world ended. Didn't you get the memo?" Amy says with a smile

I stand in the water which comes to my hips "I'm sorry guys, it didn't happen like that on purpose" I say.

I look up and see Ed sitting on the trunk of the car watching me lustfully, his eyes raking my body. I sink back into the water till it's to my neck and Carol looks from her husband then to me looking ashamed "It's not your fault, Gwen. It's just the way it is"

A moment later Nessa says "I miss the old life really bad"

We all nod in agreement. "I do miss my Maytag." Carol states

"I miss my Benz, my sat nav." Andrea says dreamily

Jacqui makes a noise of agreement and says lovingly "I miss my coffeemaker with that dual-drip filter and built-in grinder, honey."

Amy looks into space "My computer… And texting."

Nessa sighs "Scotland, I miss home"

"Same here, I miss Irn Bru" I say thinking of that delicious amber liquid.

Nessa makes a noise of pleasure "Damn straight!"

Andrea pauses and says "I miss my vibrator."

I burst out laughing followed by the others. We calm down until Carol says "me too" I laugh even harder, not expecting that to come from Carol's mouth.

Ed wanders over "What's so funny?" he asks

"Just swapping war stories, Ed." Andrea says still laughing, not letting this prick ruin our fun

"Yeah." Amy says.

Ed stands right behind them "Problem, Ed?" Andrea asks sounding annoyed.

"Nothin' that concerns you. And you ought to focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club." Ed snaps.

Andrea scoffs and I stand up in the water and walk closer to them anger boiling my blood "Excuse me Ed but nobody asked your opinion. We can laugh if we want too. Understand?"

"I never voted you leader" He snarls at me.

"Yeah well I think only those who do anything to contribute gets a say" I snap.

Andrea stands up and turns to Ed "Ed, tell you what… you don't like how your laundry is done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here." She tosses him a shirt and he whips it back at her.

"Ain't my job missy" he snaps.

"What is your job, Ed? Sitting on your ass smoking cigarettes?" Andrea asks

"Well, it sure as hell ain't listening to some uppity smart-mouthed bitch." He snaps at Andrea then turns to Carol "Tell you what… come on. Let's go." He states

"Leave her alone, Ed" I growl walking out of the water.

"Yeah, I don't think she needs to go anywhere with you, Ed" Andrea says

"And I say it's none of your business. Come on now. You heard me." Ed says

Andrea puts her hand on Carol's shoulder to try and hold her back

"Andrea, Gwen, please. It doesn't matter" Carol says standing up looking scared.

"Hey, don't think I won't knock you both on your asses just 'cause you both are college-educated coozes, All right?" Ed snaps at us both "Now you come on now or you gonna regret it later." He says to Carol

"So she can show up with fresh bruises later, Ed? Yeah, we've seen them." Jacqui says

"Stay out of this. Now come on! You know what? This ain't none of y'all's business. You don't want to keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now I am done talking. Come on." Ed snarls.

Ed grabs onto Carols and starts dragging her along. The rest of the women grab onto Carol and tries to stop her going. I run and step in front of Ed to stop him walking.

Ed Turns on Carol "You don't tell me what! I tell you what!" then he smacks Carol across the face.

A blind rage shoots through me and I push Ed so hard he lets go of Carol and stumbles back "Bitch" He screams at me and tries to hit me too. I deflect it but he lifts his other hand and wraps it around my throat and I gasp. The women begin pulling at him but he's too strong and simply wraps the other one around my throat and squeezes hard and I can hear myself gag. The women begin screaming and yelling and pulling at him. It becomes increasingly difficult to catch my breath and my vision becomes blurry until he is forcibly ripped off of me and I fall to me knees coughing.

Shane throws Ed to the ground and starts to punch the shit out of him as Nessa helps me up and wraps my towel around me. Shane is hitting him for far too long and I run over "Shane! Stop!" I yell

I grab his fist and he shakes me off. "You put your hands on your wife, your little girl, or anybody else in this camp one more time, I will not stop next time. Do you hear me? Do you hear me?!"

"Yes" Ed says through a busted lip.

"If you touch Guinevere again, if you even look at her again, I'll beat you to death Ed" Shane says threateningly. He gets off him and kicks him for good measure.

I flinch and Carol runs and throws herself onto Ed crying. Shane turns to me and lifts me into his arms, one hand under my knees the other around my waist. I scream a little as I'm lifted off the ground. I hate being carried!

"Shane, please put me down" I asks, pushing against his chest and kicking my legs. "Put me down!"

"Shane! What are you doing?" Lori shouts.

Shane completely ignores her and places me on the car seat next to the fire and inspects my neck. "It's gonna bruise" He seethes, looking ready to kill Ed now.

Lori drops next to me "What happened?" she asks worriedly.

"Ed nearly strangled her to death that's what!" He shouts before storming away.

I sit there frozen, terrified! Lori pulls my head onto her shoulder and strokes my hair "You're okay" she whispers over and over. 


	9. Lust and Sun Strock

I stay sat on the seat with Lori stroking my hair. She reminds me of my eldest sister and my mother, maternal and loving. I reach out for her hand and she takes it. I pull away slowly and take a deep breath. "Oh, that was dramatic" I say with a forced grin.

She sees right through it like any mother would. "You don't always have to be strong baby. You got one hell of a fright today."

I nod "Yeah" then looked down at myself still wrapped in a towel "I'm gonna get changed"

She nods "Okay, I'll wait here for you, okay?"

I nod and go to get changed. As I'm pulling a vest top on Nessa pokes her head through the door "You okay"

"Yeah, I'm good" I say with a grin Nessa can't see through.

"You just got attacked by that pig, you sure" she asks sceptically.

"Yes of course. It takes a lot more than Ed Peletier to scare me" I state.

She nods "Andrea and Amy went fishing, we could eat something really good tonight" She states with a grin before stepping in properly "Could you do my hair?"

I grin "You actually got the dye?"

"Of course I did, what do you take me for?" she replies with a smirk

I throw a towel at her "Give me two"

She nods and leaves.

I pull on my socks and boots over my skinny jeans before leaving my tent and sitting back down next to Lori who rubs my back gently. I like Lori a lot. It probably does have something to do with the fact she reminds me of my eldest sister but she's also a good person.

Nessa sits in between my legs and hands me the box. Lori laughs "Is there anything you can't do?"

"I can't cook" I reply

Nessa laughs "She really can't"

Lori watches as I put the black dye into Nessa's hair. I pull her head a little bit too far back at one point and a bit of her hair lands on the skin of my boobs. I sigh in annoyance. That always happens! I finish and push her forward gently.

"How long?" She asks

"25 minutes, ask Dale to keep track for you, he's the only one I know who actually uses his watch" I say.

She nods and gets up and walks away.

Shane comes over and his eyes drift over me before walking away. I stand up quickly and walk after him "Shane, wait!" I call after him.

He stops and turns to me but doesn't say anything. I wrap my arms around his waist and give him a brief hug and pull away "Thank you. Ed might actually have killed me if you didn't turn up when you did so thank you again"

He smiles at me "No problem." Then his face turns serious "I'd never let anything happen to you"

His eyes flick down to my chest and he smirks before reaching forward and rubbing his thumb across the curve of my breast. I smack his hand away.

"What are you doing?" I ask

He lifts his thumb for me to see and there's a brown splodge on it. Oh, but still.

"Thanks, but you could have just said" I scold.

He laughs a little "It was annoying me, it didn't look right against your white skin"

I smile awkwardly before walking away.

I drop back down next to Lori and build a fire for cooking then lean against Lori's arm.

 **Shane's P.O.V**

I should've just killed him! Putting his hands on my girl! I stop pacing my tent and drop down on my cot and take a deep breath. She's not my girl yet. Yet being the word of choice, I rub my face with my hands angrily. What is it with this girl? I've had plenty of women before but Gwen… she's different. Maybe it's her nationality that makes her seem different to other girls? No, because I don't find Nessa that attractive, despite being Gwen's sister. Gwen is beautiful, so beautiful. That long black hair, that white skin and those eyes… every time I see them they're a different colour and they pierce through me and that body! She's lost weight since I first saw her but that ass just will not quit or her tits, they are huge, especially in that bikini today. I was watching her before that whole thing happened, splashing in the water, swimming, laughing. She was a sight. And in that moment I decided she will be mine, I was flirting with her before and I've wanted her since the start but in that moment I wanted her to be mine and only mine. Lori is useful but she's not Gwen. I stand and leave the tent, feeling hot and bothered. I walk towards fire pit and Gwen is sitting there, dressed, with Lori beside her and Nessa is between her legs. I flashback to holding Gwen in my arms, her breasts bouncing as she struggled. I feel my jeans tighten and I turn to walk away but not before catching Gwen's eye as she pats Nessa on her shoulder and tells her something with a cute smirk. I walk off.

"Shane, wait!" I hear Gwen shout after me. God that accent!

I turn to look at her and wait for her to say something. She looks hesitant for a moment then she throws her arms around my waist. Her chest presses against my stomach and I freeze. Oh Lord she feels good! She pulls away before I can react and she looks up at me with a cute, serious look on her face.

"Thank you. Ed might actually have killed me if you didn't turn up when you did so thank you again" She says

I smile at the blush that crawls onto her face "No problem" The smile falls off my face at the thought that she may be dead right now if it wasn't for me "I'd never let anything happen to you"

She looks up at me surprised and my eyes flick down her body automatically and land on her chest where a blob of that brown stuff that was on Nessa's hair sits on the curve of her breast. I smirk at the opportunity and I reach forward and brush my thumb across the fleshy, soft, curve and take off the brown stuff. She smacks my hand away and my eyes flick to her pissed face. That's cute too.

"What are you doing?" She snaps

I lift my thumb to show her the brown stuff and her face softens "Thanks, but you could have just said" she mutters looking embarrassed.

I laugh at the look on her face, so cute "It was annoying me. It didn't look right against your white skin"

She looks up at me with an awkward smile and she turns and walks away from me. It takes everything in me not to grab her and pull her back. That girl, she's beautiful, extremely intelligent, she has a cute accent and she is a natural born leader and protector. The other men in this camp know it. Daryl Dixon is getting a little too close to her for my liking and despite having a wife I see the looks that Rick was giving her ever since he came back. He is my brother and I love him but if he comes between Gwen and I… well… I'll handle it.

 **Gwen's P.O.V**

Nessa comes back 20 minutes later, her hair washed out but looking a bit guilty.

"What did you do?" I ask her

"The water looks a bit gross now…" she mutters.

I laugh a little "Well you did just wash out a black dye in it, you already look so much better by the way"

Lori looks surprised "Wow, you two really do look alike now, sort of"

Nessa grins "She's a lucky girl, looking like her big sister and all"

"Figuratively" I say

"What?" Nessa asks as she plants herself next to me

"You're figuratively my big sister. You're short" I say with a grin

She glares and hits me "Shut it you little brat!"

A while later Andrea and Amy come back with enough fish to feed each and every one of us. I clap and grin.

"Oh, baby. Will you look at that? Hey, check it out. Ladies… Because of you my children will eat tonight. Thank you." Morales tells them.

"Yeah, nice haul ladies!" I tell them looking at the fish in wonder. That is a lot of fish.

"Thank Dale. It's his canoe and gear." Andrea states

"Mom, look. Look at all the fish, woah!" Carl says in wonder 

"Yeah woah, Where did you two learn to do that?" Lori asks

"Our dad" Amy replies proudly.

"Can you teach me how to do that?" Carl asks.

"Sure. I'll teach you all about nail knots and stuff." She says with a smirk to Andrea, inside joke? "If that's okay?" She says to Lori

"You won't catch me arguing" Lori states.

"You gotta teach me that too!" Nessa says with a grin.

Amy grins at her and nods "sure" Then she looks over Nessa "Wow, you and Gwen look so similar now!"

Shane appears at her side "Who does?"

"Nessa, doesn't she look like Gwen with dark hair?"

Shane looks over my big sister then looks at me and smiles "I don't think so, they look very different"

Nessa glares "Excuse me?"

I tap her knee with a little laugh "That's a good thing! Someone other than us sees it!"

Nessa crosses her arms over her flat chest "Whatever"

Dale wanders over looking a little worried as Andrea asks "Hey, Dale. When's the last time you oiled those line reels? They are a disgrace."

He ignores the question and instead looks straight at me "I, uh, I don't want to alarm anyone, but we may have a bit of a problem."

I stand up and look in the direction Dale points in, and there is Jim on the hill digging…why the hell is he doing that? I look at Shane who has appeared at my side. We share a worried look before heading up the hill to see what Jim is up too.

The entire group follows as we reach Jim, Shane speaks first "Hey, Jim. Jim, why don't you hold up, all right? Just give me a second here, please."

"What do you want?" Jim asks stopping.

"We're all just a little concerned, that's all." Shane states.

"Dale says you've been out here for hours" Morales says.

"So?" Jim says.

"So why you digging? Are you heading to China, Jim?" Shane asks with a tone of amusement to hide his concern

"What does it matter? I'm not hurting anyone" Jim says with a shrug then starts digging again

"Yeah, except maybe yourself. It's a hundred degrees today. You can't keep this up." I tell him concerned for his health. He's sweaty and out of breath.

"Sure I can. Watch me." Jim says, disregarding my concern.

"Jim, they're not gonna say it so I will. You're scaring people. You're scaring my son and Carol's daughter." Lori says moving next to me.

He stops again "hey, they got nothing to be scared of. I mean, what the hell, people? I'm out here by myself. Why don't you all just go and leave me the hell alone?" Then he continues.

"We think that you need to take a break, okay? Why don't you go and get yourself in the shade? Some food maybe. I'll tell you what… maybe in a little bit I'll come out here and help you myself. Jim, just tell me what it's about. Why don't you just go ahead and give me that shovel?" Shane says nicely.

"Or what?" Jim says

Shane shakes his head in disbelief "There is no or what. I'm asking you. I'm coming to you and I'm asking you, please. I don't want to have to take it from you."

"And if I don't, then what? Then you're gonna beat my face in like Ed Peletier, aren't you? Y'all seen his face, huh? What's left of it. See, now that's what happens when someone crosses you." Jim calls so everyone can hear.

"That was different Jim" Shane says with a clenched jaw.

"You weren't there. Ed was out of control. He was hurting his wife and…" Amy starts but is cut off

"That is their marriage. That is not his. He is not judge and jury. Who voted you king boss, huh?" He shouts looking at Shane.

"What about Gwen? He hurt her too! He nearly killed her!" Lori snaps.

Jim looks at me briefly but keeps digging.

"Jim, I'm not here to argue with you, all right? Just give me the shovel, okay?" Shane says reaching for the shovel and grabbing at it.

Jim protests before pulling the shovel back and swinging it at Shane. Shane ducks and tackles Jim to the ground.

"You got no right!" Jim shouts struggling with Shane who has Jim pinned to the ground on his face and holding his hands behind his back.

"Jim! Jim! Nobody's gonna hurt you. You hear me? Shh. Jim, nobody is gonna hurt you, okay?" Shane says trying to calm him down and he cuffs him

"That's a lie. That's the biggest lie there is. I told that to my wife and my two boys. I said it 100 times. It didn't matter. They came out of nowhere. There were dozens of 'em. Just pulled 'em right out of my hands. You know, the only reason I got away was 'cause the dead were too busy eating my family." Jim reveals and my heart clenches and my stomach turns. Oh God!


	10. Massacre

Shane lifts Jim carefully off the ground and takes him down to the camp and ties him to a tree. "Is that necessary?" Nessa asks.

"It's so he can't hurt himself, Nessa" I state patting her shoulder.

Lori comes up to me looking embarrassed "You okay?" I ask her.

"Human biology was never my strong point" she says.

I nod wandering what her point is "Okay, and?"

"Would you be able to teach the kids the basics? The world may have ended but my boy isn't growing up stupid" She says.

I laugh "Of course, I might as well put my skills to use"

For the next while I teach both Carl and Sophia basic things about the human body like the skeletal system, muscles and organs, all middle school level stuff with Lori and Carol both watching. Half way through, Shane comes over to Jim with some water. I concentrate on the kids but watch out the corner of my eye as Shane gives Jim a drink and pours some on his head.

"I'm sorry if I scared your boy and your little girl" Jim calls over to Lori and Carol.

"You had sun stroke. Nobody's blaming you" Lori states.

"You're not scared now, are you?" Jim asks the kids

"No sir" Sophia answers

Jim nods in relief. "Your mama's right. Sun just cooked my head is all."

"Jim, do you know why you were digging? Can you say?" Dale asks.

"I had a reason. Don't remember. Something I dreamt last night. Your dad was in it. You were too. You were worried about him. Can't remember the rest. You worried about your dad?" He asks Carl.

"They're not back yet." Carl says

Lori rubs Carl's back with a fake smile "We don't need to talk about that."

"Your dad's a police officer, son. He helps people. Probably just came across some folks needing help, that's all. That man, he is tough as nails. I don't know him well but… I could see it in him. Am I right?" Jim states.

"Oh yeah" Shane replies

"There ain't nothing gonna stop him from getting back here to you and your mom, I promise you that." Jim states.

"All right. Who wants to help me clean some fish, huh?" Shane asks the kids.

"Sweet, come on Sophia" Carl says jumping up and running, Sophia close behind.

I pat Lori's shoulder and follow as well.

I watch for a while as Morales builds a wall of boulders around the camp fire. When he's finished he steps back and says "I, uh, built up the rocks all around. See? So the flames can be a little higher and have 'em be hidden."

I nod my head impressed "Nice one! Good thinking Morales!"

"Let's get these fish cookin'!" Shane says coming through the bushes with a free Jim.

I grin "Yes, lets!"

It takes a while but everyone gets their fish by the time it gets dark. We all sit back and enjoy it, fresh fish! Nothing can beat it. Nessa sits between my legs and I hear noises of appreciation coming from her and everyone else for that matter.

Morales speaks up, talking to Dale "I've got to ask you, man. It's been driving me crazy"

Dale looks at him "What?"

"That watch" Morales states.

"What about my watch?" Dale asks

"I see you every day, the same time, winding that thing like a village priest saying mass" Morales says with a smile. I giggle, I have noticed that.

"I have wondered this myself" Jacqui says.

"I'm missing the point" Dale states

"Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end. At least hit a speed bump for a good long while" Jacqui says.

"But there's you every day winding that stupid watch." Morales finishes.

"Time… it's important to keep track, isn't it? The days at least. Don't you think, Andrea? Back me up here." Dale says and Andrea just laughs nervously then takes a drink of her beer.

When Andrea doesn't answer he continues "I like… I like what, um, a father said to son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations. He said, "I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father's before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and then and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it.""

There is a moment of silence where we all take in Dale's words then Amy says "you are so weird."

I cough into my beer as I laugh. "It's not me. It's Faulkner. William Faulkner. Maybe my bad paraphrasing." Dale says.

Amy then gets up and Andrea grabs her wrist "Where are you going?"

"I have to pee. Jeez, you try to be discreet around here…" Amy states then walks off to the RV. We all laugh again.

A few moments later Amy steps out of the RV and calls over "We're out of toilet paper!"

Suddenly I hear her scream. My head shoots up and I see a walker taking a chunk out of her arm. My stomach clenches and my heart stops and time seems to slow down, stop and then fast forward. Suddenly, more walkers appear and everybody scrambles up screaming. I grab my gun out of its holster and start shooting walkers along with Shane but they just keep coming! I hear members of our camp scream as they are attacked.

I push Nessa towards Shane shouting "Stay close to him and go! I'll catch up"

She runs for him and walks behind Carol using her own gun, uselessly might I had, where she got that from is beyond me, but she is keeping herself and the others safe. I move after them slowly, taking down walkers as I go.

"Gwen! Come on!" Shane screams at me.

"I'm coming!" I shout back

"Gwen! Get to the RV!" He shouts again.

"I'm working on it!" I shout back.

I hear a shots coming from the other end of camp and spin around and search for the source, which was a stupid thing to do. A walker tackles me to the ground. My life almost flashes before my eyes. I scream as I hit the floor and my gun flies out of my hand. Survival instincts kick in instantly and I fight against the walker desperately

"Help!" I scream at the top of my voice.

"Gwen!" Shane's voice rings through the snarls of the walker. Its jaws snapping towards my face.

I panic as my arms begin to shake from its weight. I scream again, not knowing what else to do when a shot is fired and the walker falls sideways off of me. I stagger away from it, tears in my eyes. A hand grabs my arm and wrenches me from the floor and I panic again. Until I see a pair of bright blue eyes staring at me in concern. Suddenly the shooting stops and crying fills the silence. I collapse into Daryl's chest, my body heaving with sobs and he wraps an arm around my waist and holds me to him. I pull back and turn around panicked "Nessa!" I shout but she's already running towards me looking worried.

I grab her as we fall to the floor and I cry into her shoulder. "Thank God, you're okay!" I sob clutching at her.

I look over Nessa's shoulder and automatically feel guilty. I pull her up with me as we move closer "Oh god, Amy" I mutter standing next to Lori with Nessa attached to my waist and my arms around her shoulders.

Andrea calls Amy's name over and over. "I remember my dream now, why I dug the holes" Jim states and my eyes drift over the massacre on the camp.


	11. Family and Grief

The morning after the disaster on Camp we are cleaning up, avoiding poor Andrea as we go. Lori had tried to get Andrea to move away from Amy but she wasn't having it, she just sat there not replying, not even looking up from Amy. Well she did react once when Rick tried to talk to her and he got a gun in the face. The poor girl has lost her sister I think we should leave her be. My thoughts are broken when the radio produces static and a voice tries to push through. Shane drops the walker's arm he was pulling at and runs for the radio, I'm close behind him.

He fiddles with it and the voice is clearer "I'm looking for two Scottish women, Guinevere and Nessa McDade. If anyone has seen them please respond."

Shane looks at me in shock and I look at the radio in the same way "How do you work this?" I ask picking up the talky bit, Nessa drops down next to me.

He presses a button and I speak into the talky "This is Guinevere McDade, who are you?" Static answers.

"I said I'm Guinevere McDade, who are you?" I repeat feeling agitated.

There's a pause then "Gwen? Where are you?"

Nessa pulls the talkie off of me as I freeze "Boy?"

"Nessa!" the voice replies

My hand flies to Nessa's shoulder as she drops the talkie "Holy shit" I say.

Shane picks up the talky "We are at the quarry that is located off the highway to Atlanta" He repeats himself.

The voice doesn't answer. Nessa and I sit by the radio for a solid hour waiting for the voice to come back. I don't even look up when a car pulls up.

"Gwen, Nessa?" The voice says but its clear no static.

I look up and make eye contact with the tall, blonde, blue eyed, 18 year old boy. I stagger to my feet and run towards him, tears falling down my face. "Andrew!" I exclaim throwing my arms around the young man. Nessa is right behind me and we group hug it.

I pull away and wipe my eyes "Now, Gwen" voices Nessa "We're British we don't cry"

"We carry on" I finish.

I turn to the confused group and gesture to Andrew and say "This is our nephew, Andrew"

"Nephew?" Shane asks confused "He lives in Georgia too?"

I was so happy to see him that the fact he doesn't actually live here kind of slipped my mind. "Not that I'm not happy to see you son, but how are you here?"

I waved my hand slightly to the people who had stopped to look at the new arrival. Most of them went back to doing what they were doing but Shane wouldn't shift and Carl and Sophia were being kids and were curious.

Andrew sweeps his eyes over Shane, annoyance clear behind those baby blues. He turns back to me and Nessa and explains. "I decided to come to America with one of my friends from school for the summer and I was going to start in DC and come and see you but mum told me you went to Georgia for a year. So I changed my plans so did my friend but the second we landed in Atlanta shit went to hell"

I smack the boy over the head sharply "Language, Andrew Robert!"

He rubs his head "Right, sorry, anyway we left the airport and a guy came out of nowhere and started eating Ross. Safe to say I got out of there. I was hiding in Atlanta for a while, trying to get my bearings. Then I got a car, Pop taught me how to hotwire a car"

I couldn't help but snort with laughter and shake my head, that's my dad for you "Of course he did"

He continues "Anyway I drove to the place you were staying but it was overrun, I got out of there and I've been driving around since. I found a radio and started broadcasting trying to find you, hoping you were both alive and here I am!"

"The first time you go away by yourself, people started coming back from the dead and eating other people. That's just unlucky." Nessa says and I give her a look

I put my hand on his shoulder "I'm sorry about your friend and I'm sorry you were alone."

He shrugs nonchalantly "Yeah well, I found you so…" His voice trails off. That's Andy for you, he doesn't like expressing his feelings. Just like my dad.

He looks around the camp taking in the massacre with sad eyes that he fixes faster than I could say his name. "Do you need help?"

I open my mouth to reply but Shane wraps a hand around my wrist and pulls me back a little "You just got here kid, why don't you rest"

I tug my hand away from Shane's, knowing he's right but angry at the fact he just treated me like I was his wife or something. Andy glares at Shane for a moment.

"Shane's right" Rick voice sounds in my right ear "You look like you haven't slept in days"

Andy shrugs "I'm alright, I can help"

"Do I have to use my mum voice?" I ask with a smirk.

Andy opens his mouth to protest "Right you asked for it." I cross my arms over my chest "Andrew Robert Irvine! You get your ass over to my tent and get yourself some sleep."

Andy smiles slightly "Yes mum" And he walks off to my tent. I watch him go happily. I've got a family.

I turn to Shane and glare "You didn't have to hover"

"I was just making sure you were okay" He states.

"He's our nephew." I say bluntly, raising my eyebrow.

"You never know nowadays." He replies calmly.

I shake my head and look at Nessa who is glaring at Shane angrily then walks away. I head over to Daryl remembering I have to thank him but he starts yelling at the group about our hesitation about putting something through Amy's skull and he storms away. I run a hand over my face feeling pretty frustrated over this whole situation, a situation that should have been avoided.

I move to follow Daryl when Jacqui shouts "A walker got him! A walker bit Jim!"

I spin back around eyes wide and frustration hitting boiling point but I shove my feelings back down.

"Show it to us, show it to us" Daryl demands stalking over to Jim.

Jim panics and staggers away from us and picks up a spade and starts swinging it at everyone who steps near him. I put my hand up to show him I'm not going to hurt him and step forward slowly.

"Jim put the spade down. No one is going to hurt you" I say loudly over everyone's yelling.

T-dog grabs him from behind and he drops the spade. Daryl lifts up Jim's t-shirt, revealing the bite to everyone. "I'm okay, I'm okay" Jim says over and over again.

I lead Jim over to the RV to sit then reconvene with the rest of the group standing a distance from him. Daryl was already off on one "Lets just put a pickaxe in his head and the dead girls and be done with it"

"Is that what you want?" asks Shane "Is that what you'd want if it was you?"

"Yeah, it is" Daryl replies.

"I hate to say it, I never thought I would but maybe Daryl's right" Dale states.

"Jim isn't a monster Dale. Or a rabid dog" Rick argues quietly. "He is a sick man. Where do you draw a line?"

"Here's the line, zero tolerance for walkers or the to be" Daryl states.

I watch as the guys argue amongst themselves, letting them get their thoughts out.

"What if we can get him help?" Rick suggests. "I heard the CDC were working on a cure"

"I heard that too" Shane says "I heard a lot of thing before the world went to hell."

"We could see if the CDC is up and running" Rick says

"That's a stretch right there" Shane replies.

"Why? If there is any government structure at all, they are going to want to protect the CDC at all costs wouldn't they? I say it's our best shot" Rick says desperately.

"Rick, we can't just go on a hunch." I put in.

"Why not? What else have we got? They will have food, shelter, protection" He asks.

"We all want those things, hell I want them too, but the place we are going to get them is at Fort Benning" Shane says.

"That's a hundred miles in the opposite direction" Lori states.

"That is right but it is away from the hot zone, if that place is still operational it will be heavily armed" Shane pleads his case desperately "We'd be safe there"

"The military were on the front lines with this thing." Rick argues "They got overrun, we've all seen that, the CDC's are best choice and Jim's only chance"

Right now I'm swaying more towards Rick "the CDC would be far more locked down than a military base, there are a lot of things in that building they would not want getting out, and Jim could possibly get help…it's slim but it is possible" I say.

There is a small silence then Daryl breaks it "you go looking for asprin or whatever you need to do" He starts moving quickly towards Jim pickaxe "But somebody needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!"

Rick points his gun to Daryl's head "We don't kill the living"

"That's funny, coming from a guy holdin' a gun to ma head" Daryl throws back. To be honest, the mans got a point.

"We may disagree on some things but not on this" States Shane who is standing between Daryl and Jim "Now you put it down, go on"

Daryl hits his pickaxe off the ground then storms off. I smile at Rick and Shane in appreciation for calming Daryl down then I go after Daryl.

I find him smashing walker skulls. "Hi"

He looks up at me and nods "Hey" then he smashes his pickaxe through another skull.

"Thanks for saving me last night" I say with a smile.

He shrugs "no problem"

I put a hand on his wrist before he lifts his pickaxe above his head again. His blue eyes snap to my multi-coloured ones "Seriously, thank you"

I let his wrist go then walk away giving him a brief smile over my shoulder.

"What happened to your neck?" He asks quietly.

I stop and turn around confused then remember what happened yesterday, damn it feels like a life time ago "Ed Peletier thought it would be fun to try and strangle me to death"

Daryl's eyes grow dark and murderous "I'm fine though" I say quickly before walking away

I feel his eyes on my back and hear him hit the corpses with even more force than necessary. I sit down beside Nessa for a while before I notice Amy's hand moving and Andrea talking to her. I stand up quickly and edge towards them so does Rick and Shane. Amy sits up and begins to get more animated when Andrea lifts her gun to Amy's temple and pulls the trigger. Amy falls back to the ground. Permanently dead now and Andrea begins her grieving process again.

I see the mouth of my tent open and Andy steps out. The gunshot probably woke him. I'm surprised the shouting didn't. The poor kid must have been tired. Shane comes over and tells me he and Rick are going to finish what Jim started with the graves. I nod slowly still watching Andrea as she now wraps Amy in a sheet. He brushes my hair behind my ear which makes me jump and step back, my eyes drawn straight to him. His physical touching of me has grown ten folds since Rick turned up and it's worrying me. What is he trying to prove? He walks off with Rick and I look over at Nessa and shake my head exasperated, she is glaring at Shane with anger.

"What is that guys problem?" Andy voice whispers from next to me.

I put my arms up in a 'who knows' gesture "The guys been like that since I met him, he's getting more forward with it lately though."

Andy frowns in the direction Shane and Rick went "I don't like him, there's something not right about him."

"He needs to be backing off from my little sister, that's what!" Nessa seethes coming to our side.


	12. CDC or Fort Benning

Andy, Nessa and I help the guys load our dead onto Daryl's pickup truck and then he drives them up to the gravesite. The rest of us follow on foot.

"I still think it's a mistake, not burnin' these bodies." Daryl states "That's what we said we'd do. Burn them all, isn't that the idea? Then people start gettin' all emotional saying its not the thing to do and we just follow them along? These people need to know who the hells in charge here. What the rules are"

"There are no rules" Rick states.

"That's the problem" voices Lori "we haven't had one minute to hold on to our old selves. We need time to mourn and we need to bury our dead, it's what people do"

I nod in agreement. "She's right we're human not wild animals, we still have to hold onto our traditions or we will end up losing our humanity"

Lori looks at me and smiles appreciatively then we start moving the bodies out of the truck and into graves. Andrea insists of putting Amy in herself. Dale walks with her cautiously, letting her do it herself but making sure she doesn't accidentally drop her sister and feel even worse. Andrea gets Amy in with a little help from Dale and I watch teary eyed but not letting said tears pour out. I really liked Amy. She was so sweet and helpful. I don't know what I would have done if that was Nessa. Dale helps Andrea out of the grave, and then we bury them, all of them.

We go back to camp and I try and think of our next move, we can't stay here not after this. It was naïve of me to think we could. I'm edging more towards the CDC than Fort Benning. I don't hear Shane come up behind me till he touches my back. I jump and turn on the guy.

"Hi, Shane" I say, surprised.

"Gwen, I need you on my side with this Fort Benning thing" He states

I sigh audibly "I'm sorry Shane but I agree more with Rick. It's a stronghold and we might get some answers. I'm not saying its entirely full proof and things will be perfect because it probably won't be, it'll probably be a dead end. But Fort Benning is an even bigger risk, its a hundred miles away and most likely overrun."

"So could the CDC" Shane argues.

"I didn't say it wouldn't be but if it is, we're not getting in there and they can't get to us from inside that building" I turn to walk away but Shane grabs my wrist and pushes me into the side of Daryl's truck away from the prying eyes of any onlookers.

"Get off me Shane!" I snap.

"Would you just listen to me? Fort Benning is our best shot!" He says desperately pressing his body into mine.

"I mean it Shane, your hurting me! Get off!" I say louder pushing at his iron grip on my wrists.

"She said get off" A rough voice says from behind Shane.

Shane lets go of my wrists as if burnt and steps back. He glares at Daryl before saying "Mind your own business" then stalks off.

I rub my wrists from where Shane pressed too hard and shake my head at the guy. "The guy's a dick" Daryl mutters holding his hand out lazily. I hold my sore arm out to him and he takes it in his with surprising gentleness. His calloused fingers brush over the red marks on my wrist and a shiver runs down my spine "It looks like it'll bruise"

I sigh "Joy, another one"

Daryl walks away "Hey Daryl" I call after him.

He turns back to me quietly "Thank you"

He shrugs then walks away again. I smile after him before going back around to the main part of the camp. I sit in one of the chairs around the campfire and slump into it feeling exhausted and dizzy all of a sudden.

I start to doze off when Shane and Rick come back and Shane speaks "I've been thinking about Rick's plan and look, there is no guarantees either way, I'll be the first to admit that. I've known this man a long time, I trust his instincts" I shoot Shane a dirty look, that's not what he was thinking when he had me pressed into that truck. He continues "I think what the most important thing here is that we need to stick together" That I agree with "So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning" he looks straight at me when he says that. I nod back curtly.

I stand up and stretch slightly "Well I suggest we all get some sleep, it's going to be a long day tomorrow."

Everyone nods and mutters amongst themselves as they get up. Andrea stands up beside me then begins to fall back down again. I catch her and pull her up straight, keeping my hands on her shoulders to keep her steady.

"Have you eaten anything today?" I ask looking into her eyes. She shakes her head. I dig into my pocket and pull out a breakfast bar and push it into her hand "Eat this"

I let go of her and go back to the tent I share with Nessa and I suppose Andy now.


	13. Heart to Heart

The next morning I load mine and Nessa's bags into the back of my car as she puts the tent down when I hear Andy curse.

I look over to his car and say "What did I say about your language, boy?"

He looks up "Sorry, this damn car won't start"

"Pop the hood" I state walking over to it. He does and a whole team of smoke just hits me right in the face. I wave my hand over the smoke trying to move it faster. When it clears I look at the mess under the hood. "You're radiators fucked, no way in hell you're going get another one out here" I close the hood.

"Leave it behind, put your stuff in my car and I'll get a ride with someone else, you take my car with Nessa" I state rubbing my hands on my jeans.

"Why can't you ride with us?" He asks.

"You're going to have to put your stuff in the backseat. After that there won't be any room. It's a long drive and it won't be comfortable" I reply.

He nods and starts unloading his car and moving it to mine. The RV is crowded enough with Glenn, Jim and Jacqui, not going there, Morales car has his family in it. Lori and Rick are taking Carol and Ed's car and they're taking Carl, Sophia and Carol in that so that's packed. I refuse to go with Shane and T-Dog riding with Andrea and I can't be dealing with an atmosphere like that that leaves Daryl, hopefully Daryl will take me. He's rolling a bike onto the back of the pick up when I walk over.

"Hey, can I ride with you?" I ask.

He looks down at me "What's wrong with your car"

"Andrew's car is busted so he's taking mine with Nessa"

"Why don' you go with them?"

I look over at the car pointedly "No room, it's either you or Shane"

He freezes momentarily before nodding "Okay"

I grin "Thanks"

"Everybody listen up!" calls Shane. I head over to him followed closely by Daryl. "Those of you with CB's we will be on channel 40 but lets keep the chatter down okay? If you have a problem and don't have a CB or a signal you hit your horn one time okay? That will stop the caravan. Any questions?"

Morales speaks up "We're, uh, we're not going."

"We have family in Birmingham, we want to be with our people" His wife puts in, I never learned her name.

"You know you won't have anyone to watch your back" Shane states.

"We'll take the chance. I've got to do what's best for my family" Morales says.

"You sure?" Rick asks

"We talked about it and we're sure"

"Alright" Rick replies and hands the man a gun and Shane gives him a box of ammo. Everyone says their Goodbyes and I hang back, I hate these sort of things. Morales comes up to me and pulls me into a hug. "My family would probably have not made it off that highway if it wasn't for you. Thank you"

I hug him back awkwardly then pull away from him with a small smile. "Anytime"

"Let's move out" I call, ignoring the frog in my throat.

I walk towards Daryl's truck and pull open the passenger side door. I look down the convoy and see Shane frowning as I climb into the truck. I ignore him and close the door. Daryl climbs in the driver's side shortly after. Then we move out.

Daryl and I drive in a surprisingly comfortable silence for a couple of hours. I like that about Daryl, he doesn't feel the need to fill silences. I see smoke coming out of the RV and it pulls over. Daryl pulls over too. We look at each other for a moment before climbing out wordlessly. Nessa and Andy climb out of the car behind me. We all walk over to the RV.

"What's wrong?" I ask coming up to Rick and Dane.

"Radiator hose is broken again." Dale answers.

"Great" I reply sarcastically.

"I told you we'd never get far on that hose" Dale states

"Can you rig it?" Rick asks

"That's all it's been so far, it's more duct tape than hose, and I'm out of duct tape" Dale replies.

I don't even know what to say to that. "I see something up ahead" Shane states while looking through his binoculars. "Gas station if we're lucky"

"Ya'll" Jacqui call desperately jumping out of the RV "Jim. It's bad, I don't think he can take anymore" She goes back inside.

"Hey Rick, Gwen you two wanna hold down the fort while I drive up ahead, see what I can bring back?" Shane asks.

I nod.

"Yeah I'll come too, back you up" T-Dog says to Shane.

Rick climbs into the RV and I stand outside. Daryl comes up to me and just stands beside me quietly. I smile up at him and he just briefly looks at me before looking into the distance. Shane comes back with a new hose and Rick comes out a couple of seconds later.

"Jim wants us to leave him here" Rick states "It's what he wants"

"And he's lucid?" Carol asks.

"I would say yes"

"Back at the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just going to suggest that we ask Jim what he wants." Dale states. "And I think we have an answer"

"We just leave him here and take off?" Asks Shane, he shakes his head "I'm not sure I could live with that"

"It's not your call, either one of you" Lori states.

"Lori's right, this is what Jim wants, what we have to say on the matter is redundant" I say giving Lori a smile.

Shane and Rick get Jim from the RV and gently carry him to a nearby tree and lean him against it. "Hey, another damn tree" Jim says breathlessly but amused.

Shane leans over him "You know Jim, it don't have to be this way"

Jim smiles and nods and is breathing sharply. "Its good, breeze feels nice."

"Okay…alright" Shane says stepping away from him.

Jacqui leans down next to him and brushes his head softly "Just close your eyes sweetie, don't mind" Then she leans forwards and kisses his cheek.

She steps away and Rick walk up to him, holding out a gun and kneeling beside him "Do you want this?"

"No" He breathes out "You'll need it. I'm okay"

I walk away and back to Daryl's truck and Nessa and Andrew walk past me.

Nessa stops momentarily "You, okay?" She asks griping my arm

"Yeah, I suppose" I reply, confused.

She nods a little and looks at the truck then let's go of me with a nod and follows Andy.

"You gettin' in or what?" Daryl shouts over the truck.

I nod and climb in. I lean back in my seat. What's her problem? Lost in thought it takes me a couple of tries to close the door. Daryl looks at me confused before pulling out and following the convoy again, leaving poor Jim behind.

Daryl and I drive in silence for 20 minutes or so and in that time I have caught him glancing at me every so often and every time he does my heart skips a beat. He breaks the silence causing me to jump violently, he ignores it "Why wouldn' ya let Nessa carry a gun?"

I shrug "She doesn't need one"

He scoffs "That's bullshit"

I raise an eyebrow at him "And you know that how?"

"You carry a gun so does your nephew. Why not her? She is your big sister after all"

I let out a little laugh and he looks over at me half curious, half annoyed. "You know what? I don't really know" I tell him "The idea of Nessa carrying a gun scares me. She talks the big talk but underneath she's actually a little scared. I feel that if it came down to it she wouldn't be able to pull that trigger. She would think 'what if other walkers hear me? What if I miss? However, with a knife it's pretty straight forward and she's good at it, why mess with a good thing"

He looks at me for a moment the turns his eyes back to the road grunting an inaudible sentence.

There's a small silence then I say "She does have terrible aim though, she couldn't hit water if she fell out of a boat"

I look over at him grinning and I see that Daryl is smirking. I think that is as close to a smile as I'm going to get from him. I stare back out the window still smiling.

"That background story ya told us. It true? I mean you don't look or act like a rough neck of the woods type" he asks.

I nod "It's true. I used to hate where I came from. I grew up in the slums and I blamed my parents for it. Although my parent worked their asses off every day to ensure we had food and a roof over our head. They never relied on welfare. They drilled into our heads to have a good work ethic. My father is well respected man in our town, so was his father before him. He is, was… whatever, a Mob Boss. I didn't want to be involved in any of that but Nessa was, for a bit. Nobody messes with the McDade's" I pause for a moment then laugh humourlessly "Although, I suppose when people started eating each other respect meant fuck all." I push away that fear for my family out of my head. I'm never going to see them again anyway and I've got Andy and Nessa.

"Your Pa sounds a lot better than the bastard that dragged me up" Daryl states bitterly. His eyes suddenly widen and he chews is thumb as if telling himself he shouldn't have said that.

I smile at him sadly before shuffling close to him and placing my head on his shoulder and curling up at his side, pure bravery on my part. I sit there with my eyes closed waiting for him to shrug me off but he doesn't. This feels nice and safe. I never want to leave Daryl's side. A few minutes pass and Daryl's hand has gone from his lap to my knee and it sits there for the rest of the journey.


	14. Let's Get Drunk

The sun is setting by the time we pull up to the CDC. I peel myself away from Daryl flashing him a smile before climbing out of the truck. He follows. My smile falls right off my face when I see the amount of bodies lying around. I walk close to Daryl scared that one of these corpses will start snapping. I pull my gun out of the holster at my hip and hold it tightly in my hand. I look around at Andy doing the same and Nessa is holding her knife and sticking to Andy like glue. We edge forward slowly, Rick at the front, shotgun held in front of him in case of any surprises. Shane tells us all to move slowly and keep quiet but with the smell that is coming for all direction is so bad that it's hitting the back our throats causing us to cough. We get to a series of metal shutters and my heart drops. Lockdown, we're not getting in there.

Rick and Shane look for an intercom and start banging on the shutters. I wince at the noise and look around me. "There's nobody here" T-dog states.

"Then why are these shutters down?" Rick asks

"Walkers!" Daryl shouts. I spin around and lift my gun up and the kids start crying, scared. Everyone else holds up their weapon if they have one.

Daryl freaks out at Rick and Shane tells him to shut up. I reach behind me and grab on to Daryl's arm. He moves in closer to me looking around us.

"Rick, Shane we should go, now!" I exclaim. Everyone starts arguing amongst each other I move from Daryl to Shane, Rick and Lori. "We can't just stand here arguing we need to move!" I state gun still up and pointed over Lori's shoulder.

Everyone starts shuffling away but Rick just stops dead. "The camera moved!" he shouts moving towards it.

"You imagined it" Dale says.

"No, it moved" Rick states.

"Its an automated device, man. Come on" Shane says.

Rick starts freaking out at the camera and Shane and Lori try and force him back. He's not having it. He continues to scream at it and the walker presence is growing. Daryl grabs my arm and starts tugging at me to run. Rick finally turns to run when the shutters suddenly open and a bright white light shines out. We move our way in quickly and Rick calls out for someone.

"Close the doors. Watch for walkers!" A voice calls.

I hear a guns safety come off and I lift mine towards a blonde man holding a big gun "Anybody infected?" He asks.

"One of our group was" Rick says "But he didn't make it"

"Why are you here? What do you want?" The man asks stepping towards us.

"A chance" Rick states.

"That's asking a lot these days" the man replies

"I know" Rick replies.

"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission." The guy states

"We can do that" Rick says.

The guys lowers his gun completely "If you have stuff you need to bring in do it now because once these doors close they are staying closed"

We all run out to the cars and grab our bags and what not. Then run back to the building. Once we're all in the guy locks and closes the shutters. The guy introduces himself as Dr Edwin Jenner.

"Like Edward Jenner? The guy who cured smallpox?" I ask, feeling a little hopeful

His eyes turn to me with a look of surprise "No relation, I assure you"

Oops, hit a nerve.

He leads us to an elevator and we all pile in. After a few moments of silence Daryl breaks it "Do Doctors always go around packing heat like that?"

Jenner looks at Daryl with a small smile "well there was plenty lying around, I familiarized myself. But you look harmless enough" Then he looks down at Carl and says "Except you, I'm going to have to keep my eyes on you"

Carl smiles up at the man, holding back a laugh. We get out of the elevator and follow the man down a corridor. "Are we underground?" Carol asks.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Asks Jenner

"A little, yeah".

"Don't think about it" was his reply.

He takes us into a dark room and shouts "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room"

The lights go on revealing a big control room. "Welcome to zone 5"

"Where is everybody? The other Doctors? The staff?" Rick asks.

"I'm it" Jenner replies "It's just me here"

"What about the person you were speaking with? Vi?" Lori asks.

"Vi, say hello to our guests, tell them, welcome" Jenner says

"Hello guest, welcome" An automated voice replies.

"I'm all that's left" Jenner says "Sorry"

A few minutes later he's taking blood from everybody, I'm last after Andrea.

"Last but not least" Jenner says with a smile as I sit in front of him.

I smile back and he puts the belt around my upper arm and tightens it then starts looking for a vein. He sits and prods at me for a good five minutes.

"Problem doc?" Shane asks.

Jenner frowns "I can't seem to find a vein"

I shrug, that's not news to me "Doctors and nurses rarely can, try my other arm"

He does and it takes just as long but he finds one "may I ask why?"

"It's nothing really, just bad blood flow" I reply.

"Caused by?" he presses.

"I'm anemic"

"Sickle-cell, vitamin B-12, iron?"

"Iron deficiency"

"Haemoglobin count?"

"Last time I checked, 7" I reply my cheeks getting red while talking about my health so openly.

"Have you got tablets?" Jenner asks

I shake my head. He pulls the needle out its only ¾ full. "You're body doesn't like giving away much blood does it?" He says amused.

"Nope, bloods to busy keeping my heart and brain going" I reply with a laugh. It's a joke, iron deficiency anaemia won't actually kill me.

"I'll get you some. Nowadays without easy access to the pills or the right diet it could become quite dangerous for you"

"Thanks Doc" I say standing up. Feeling dizzy but not letting it show.

Jenner takes us to a dining area and provides food and alcohol! Guys becoming a best pal already. We all start drinking, laughing and generally feeling happier than we have in days.

Dale tries to let Carl try some wine but Lori puts her hand over his glass "If Carl is in France or Italy he can have some then"

"What can it hurt?" Rick asks.

Lori removes her hand and Dale pours the boy a little bit. Carl takes a drink then puts the cup back down "Ewwww"

We all start laughing and Lori pours the remainder of the cup into her glass. "Waste not want not" I say nudging Lori's arm. She grins at me.

"Stick to the soda pop there, bud" Shane states.

"Not you Glenn" Daryl says.

Glenn looks up from a wine bottle with a grin "What?"

"Keep drinking little man, I want to see how red your face can get" Daryl says with a smirk.

We all laugh again and I finish my 3rd or 4th glass and Daryl leans over me, snatches it and refills it with whiskey. I take it back with a grin "Thank you, sir"

He raises his own glass then says "I want to see if the rumours about Scots are true"

I laugh "I don't know about all Scots, but us McDade's can handle our drink, especially Nessa"

"It's my only real talent" Nessa laughs as we high five each other then Andy.

Daryl laughs and leans on the back of my chair, his free hand playing with my hair subtly from behind.

Shane eyes move between Daryl and I and he looks relatively pissed off. I shrug it off though.

I turn to look at Nessa and grin. I start to clap my hands and sing "We like to drink with Nessa!" Andy joins in "Cause Nessa is our mate and when we drink with Nessa she gets in down in 8, 7, 6, 5"

Nessa downs her drink at five and Andy and I clap "That's my girl" I tell her with a grin

The group stare for what feels like an eternity "What?" Andy asks with a shrug.

"What is that?" Lori asks curiously

"It's a drinking challenge. You down the drink before you finish the song or you have to take a shot and finish the drink anyway" Nessa replies.

The group laughs "Only the Scots would come up with something like that" Dale says wiping his eyes.

Nessa, Andy and I laugh.

Rick hits his glass to get our attention and stands up "It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly." He states raising his glass.

We all follow suit "He is more than just our host" T-Dog says.

"Here, here!" We all shout except Daryl who says "Booya!"

I laugh at him, aw he's so damn cute. "Booya!" I repeat after him, the rest of our group follows.

"When the hell are you going to tell us what the hell happened here Doc?" Shane asks cutting into the mood. "All the other Doctors who are supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?"

"We're celebrating Shane, no need to do this now" Rick says sitting back down.

"This is why we're here right? This was your move. To try and find out all the answers. Instead we found him" Shane says with a breathy laugh and pointing his thumb towards Jenner. "We got one man, why?"

I glare at him. What the hell Shane!

"Well when things got bad a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families" Jenner explains "When things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted"

"Every last one?" Shane asks

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They, opt-ed out, there was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time"

"You didn't leave, why?" Andrea questions

"I just kept working" Jenner replies "Hoping to do some good"

Glenn comes over to sit at the table and says to Shane "Dude, you are such a buzz kill man"

After that Jenner takes us to where we will be sleeping. "Most of the facility is powered down, including housing, so you have to make do here. The couches are comfortable but there are cots in storage if you like. There is a rec room down the hall that you kids may like, just don't plug in the video games okay? Wastes power. Same if you shower, go easy on the hot water"

Nessa and I look at each other grinning "Hot water?"


	15. Passions and Sobering Actions

I dump my stuff in a room and bolt to the shower. The hot water feels amazing on my skin! I can feel my muscles loosen up with the water pressure and the heat. I can feel the dirt and grime from the last few days pretty much fall off its amazing! Sorry Jenner no promises on the hot water thing. I get out eventually, I don't know how long I was under there but I know that I'm grudgingly getting out. Once I'm out continuing drinking sounds like a fantastic idea so I dress and go back to the dining area and pull out a bottle of whiskey from the fridge. Oh no way, the Glenrothes. A little taste of home! I hear someone come up behind me.

I turn around and come face to face with Daryl. I grin "Here Daryl, you'll help me appreciate this whiskey, won't you?"

He grins and takes the bottle off me "What's this?"

"This, my dear friend, is a 25 year old, single malt whiskey, straight from my neck of the woods. Literally, born and raised in Glenrothes."

We sit on the table and Daryl pops the bottle open. He pours me a glass and hands it to me while standing with his thighs against my knees. I take a sip and part my legs ever so subtly so he could step between them, he does. "This was made the year I was born, in the town I was born, I'm not going to get any closer to home than this" I say taking another drink.

He leans towards my face "You're hair is gettin' your shirt wet"

I smirk a little "Is it see-through?"

Daryl's eyes flick down to my shirt then back to my face "You might catch a cold"

Drink is making me a lot more confident than I'm used to and I lean in even more "What would you suggest I do?"

Daryl opens his mouth to reply but Nessa and Andy enter into the room and Daryl steps back a little. Andy laughs when he sees the bottle. "Nice find Auntie Gwen, a taste from home"

"That's what I said!" I exclaim and high five the boy.

Nessa's eyes flick between Daryl and I suspiciously before grabbing the bottle and says "Who cares? If it gets me wasted, I'm happy"

I laugh "Some things never change"

Nessa grins "I'm reliable like that"

We all drink together till we finish the bottle. I stagger to my feet, "I am going to the bathroom." I say loudly and leave the room and into the bathroom.

I leave the bathroom a couple of minutes later and see Daryl leaning against the wall opposite the bathroom door. I open my arms to the older man "Daryl!" I exclaim then fall forward.

He catches me before I face plant the ground. "Watch it. Your gonna do yoursel' an injury"

I ignore his comment and slide one arm around his neck and press the index finger of my free hand into his hard chest "I've always liked you the most, you know. You're chilled out and not afraid to speak your mind. You're great!"

Feeling dizzy I fall forward onto his chest and press myself into him "You're warm" I mutter against him.

He doesn't say anything instead he uses one of his hands to push my head up so my eyes meet his. Such pretty blue eyes "I wish I had eyes like yours" I accidentally say out loud.

His eyes widen slightly before he grabs my hair and pulls my lips up to meet his. I moan into the kiss and grab the front of his shirt. He flips us around and presses me against the wall. I push him back and we fall through the bathroom door and Daryl falls back onto the floor. He doesn't care and he kicks the door closed with his foot. He flips us back around so I'm underneath him. He bites my bottom lip and I moan and open my mouth. He slips his tongue into my mouth and I push against his tongue with mine. He pulls away from my mouth and works his way down my jaw and onto my neck. His hand slips under my shirt and starts making light circles on my stomach. I moan at the sensation and his hand travels up to my bra and works its way under it. He squeezes my breast with his rough calloused hand. I gasp and moan loudly as he pinches my nipple.

There's a knock on the door "Gwen? Are you okay?" It's Shane.

Daryl smirks and continues caressing my body and playing with my breast and kissing my neck, jaw and collar bone. "I'm fine, just a bit ill from drinking" Daryl presses on a sensitive spot on my neck and I have to bite my lip hard to stop myself moaning, I taste blood.

"Should I come in?" He asks.

"No!" I exclaim "I hate people touching me when I'm being sick" I scratch the back of Daryl's neck as his fingers pop the button of my jeans and he works his hand into my underwear.

"Okay, I'll talk to you later"

Daryl's finger glides over my clit and I bite my hand "mmhmm, later" I breathe out. Shane's walks away from the door and when I can't hear him anymore. I grab Daryl's face and crush his lips against mine and push him back into a sitting position so I'm straddling him.

I pull away "That was not very nice" I say quietly.

He smirks "couldn' resist."

"You need to be punished" I say seductively, well as seductive as I can be.

He smirks and his eyes light up probably thinking of all sorts of things and I feel his erection press against my thigh and I grin. I stand up and kiss his forehead "Bye-bye now" I say opening the door of the bathroom. "Come find me when you're ready to apologise"

He jumps up quickly "Wait what?"

"You know where to find me. Ta ta" I exit the bathroom and head straight to my room, laughing to myself as I go. I give him 10 minutes tops.

I just close the door when someone knocks on it. I grin, that was fast! I swing the door open and it's Shane on the other side. The grin drops.

"Hi Shane, What can I do for you?" I ask, leaning on my door frame.

"Are you okay?" He asks, not looking too pleased.

"I'm fine, thanks" I reply.

"I saw you leave the bathroom"

I shrug "So?"

"Daryl left shortly after" he says angrily.

My heart rate rises but not because of the fact we were caught but because of the look on Shane's face. I step away from him. "That's none of your business" I snap.

I start to push the door shut but he pushes against it hard and it swings open and bangs against the wall loudly. I flinch at the noise then glare at Shane "What the hell Shane?" I say angrily.

He walks up to me and says in a quiet but dangerous voice "I thought we had something? We lead this group together, we have a tight bond. Why be with a guy like Daryl Dixon" I can smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Daryl's a good man." I reply "And you are drunk, get out before you do something stupid"

He grabs my wrist and pushes me down on the couch and leans over me. "Am I not good enough for you?" he snaps.

I push against him but he's too strong "I don't like you like that Shane. You're better than this, please just go away"

He forces his mouth onto mine. I close my mouth tightly and turn my head away my mouth detaching from his. "Shane! Stop it!" I shout, struggling against him violently.

"I love you!" He shouts back, grabbing my hair and aiming for my mouth again, his other hand pushing my shirt up and grabbing my breasts over my bra.

"No you don't Shane, Now get off!" I scream and scratch his neck.

He doesn't let go and uses his free hand to unbutton my jeans. Tears spring to my eyes "Get off of me!" I scream.

Shane is ripped off me and thrown to the floor. "What the hell man! That's twice I've had to pull ya off her" Daryl growls.

Shane staggers off the floor and leaves my room. Daryl moves to go after him but I grab his arm "Don't!" He turns to look at me. I let go of his arm and put my head down "Please, could you just stay with me"

A tear escapes my eye, I should feel safe around my own group but I feel that as long as Shane is around I'll never feel safe. Daryl walks away from me and my head snaps up more tears threatening to escape. Is he really going to leave?

Daryl closes the door and walks back to me. My body relaxes as he sits down on the couch next to me awkwardly. I throw my arms around is neck and crawl onto his lap then bury my face into his chest and just let the tears escape. I feel completely sober now but my head is thumping slightly with the hangover settling in. Daryl doesn't say anything; he just wraps his arms around my waist and sits like that for a while. I stop crying and sit back a bit, looking up at him with a smile.

"You really are a good guy Daryl, I like you" I say quietly.

His cheeks redden, just a little then he mutters something. "What?" I ask, wanting him to speak up

"I like ya too" He says a little louder.

I smile, lean up and gently kiss Daryl on the mouth. I pull back but he puts his hand on the back of my head and pushes my lips back onto his. He pulls me down onto the couch and he turns my back to him then pulls me into him so my head is tucked under is chin. His arm drapes over my stomach and stays there and I place my hand over his and close my eyes. I drift off feeling safe and warm.


	16. TS-19

I wake up the next morning, I think, and Daryl is still asleep next to me. I get up slowly as not to disturb him. I change out of yesterday's clothes and into new ones. I look at Daryl and decide I should wake him up. I kneel down next to the couch and tap his shoulder, nothing. I shake him a little, nothing. I kiss his cheek, nada. I say his name and shake him, nope. I kiss him right on the mouth and nip his lip. I feel him kiss me back and I pull away giggling. His eyes are wide open and he's smirking.

"Morning sunshine!" I exclaim happily.

"Mornin'" He replies sitting up.

"Come on, lets see what breakfast is" I state, holding my hand out for him to take.

He takes it instantly and he stands from the couch and we walk to the dining area hand in hand and I don't let go even when we walk in and Lori, Rick, Carl, Carol, Sophia, Jacqui, Dale, T-Dog, Glenn and Andrea are all there already. They all stare at our hands as we walk in all smiling slightly, except from Andrea whose still grieving and I think she has slipped into depression and Glenn who looks positively miserable with his hangover.

I sit down next to Glenn who is groaning and muttering. I laugh and pat the boy on the shoulder "Someone went overboard last night" I say grabbing a couple of rashers of bacon.

"It's Daryl's fault" Glenn complains "He wouldn't let up"

I laugh again and start eating. Shane comes in a few minutes later and I put my eyes straight down at my plate. "Hey do you feel as bad as I do?" Rick asks him.

"Worse" Shane mutters in reply.

"What the hell happened to you?" T-Dog asks. "You're neck"

I look up briefly to see three long scratches on Shane's neck from where I clawed at him last night. "I must of done it in my sleep" He lies.

"I've never seen you do that before" Rick comments looking at his best friend in concern.

"Me neither" Shane replies then looks right at me and I make accidental eye contact. "Not like me at all" He finishes.

I feel Daryl tense next to me but he doesn't say anything. Nessa makes an appearance seconds later and Andrew minutes after that. Nessa wraps her arms around my shoulders from behind and hugs me. "Good morning, _Baby_ sister" She's says perkily, emphasizing on the word baby and kissing my cheek.

I swallow what I'm chewing "Morning, big sister, your perky" I say suspiciously.

She shrugs "I think I'm still a little drunk" she says sitting down at the other side of Glenn next to Andy.

I smirk "Did you stop drinking?"

She shakes her head "Nope, I passed out an hour ago, still drunk"

I laugh.

"Morning" Jenner says to everyone entering the room. He gets a chorus of replies.

He comes up behind me and places a bottle of pills in front of me. I look up at him and he smiles. "For your Anemia, your blood results showed that your iron levels are dangerously low, lower than you thought they were."

Daryl looks at him sharply "What does that mean?" he asks.

Jenner looks at him surprised but answers anyway. "She will be more fatigued, She'll have heart palpitations, long stints of running or exercise in general will give her shortness of breath so bad she might have an asthma attack, bad headaches, dizziness, leg cramps, insomnia and, not exactly health risking, but her skin will go paler than it already is. If you leave it untreated it could lead to Porotic Hyperostosis which…"

I interrupt him "will cause porous lesions across my cranium. That should only happen if my anaemia is chronic and my diet is really poor"

Jenner looks shocked "How do you know that?"

I grin "I'm a Doctor in Forensic Anthropology"

"You don't introduce yourself using your title" He says surprised.

I shrug "I only had it for a week before all this, plus it sounds weird to say: Doctor Guinevere McDade"

"You earned it you should use it" He says

I smile and take a pill. "What do ya mean by porous lesion?" Daryl asks

"Holes will appear in my skull" I reply

He looks shocked and I laugh "It won't happen"

He looks slightly more relaxed.

Jenner goes over and gets himself coffee and Dale says "Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing"

"But you will anyway" He replies sounding amused.

"We didn't come here for the eggs" States Andrea.

Jenner leads us to the control room and asks 'Vi' "Playback for TS-19"

A big screen boots up and Vi repeats "playback of TS-19"

"Few people got a chance to see this, very few" Jenner states as pictures of MRI scans appear on the screen.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asks as a MRI enlarges.

"An extraordinary one" Jenner tells him "Not that it matters in the end." He says depressingly. "Take us in for EIV" He tells Vi.

"Enhanced Internal View" The automated voice says and the picture of the screen magnifies until you can see the brain in extraordinary detail and a MRI video footage plays.

"What are those lights?" Shane asks

"They're a person's life, experiences, memories, its everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, in all those ripples of light, is you." Jenner explains "The thing that makes you unique and human."

"You don't make sense ever?" Daryl asks.

I speak up "They are synapses, electric impulses in the brain that carry all the messages to the rest of the body."

Everyone, including Nessa and Andy look at me shocked. I shrug and say defensively "What? I'm a Doctor of Forensic Anthropology, of course I know about the brain!"

Jenner continues talking taking the attention off of me "Yes, They determine everything a person says does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death."

"Death?" Rick questions "What is this? A vigil?"

"Yes, or rather, the playback of the vigil" Jenner says.

Andrea steps forward "This person died? Who?"

"Test Subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected… and volunteered to have us record the process. VI, Scan forward to the first event" Jenner states

"Scanning to first event" Vi repeats.

The screen zooms back out and the lights in the brain are slowly taken over by blackness.

"What is that?" Glenn asks.

"It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands haemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs." The lights start to flicker, the subject starts to move around distressed then the brain falls into complete darkness "Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be…gone." Jenner says, again depressingly.

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asks her mother.

"Yes" Carol replies.

Andrea sobs audibly turning her head away from the screen "She lost somebody two days ago." Lori explains to Jenner "Her sister"

Jenner looks at Andrea and says "I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is." Then to Vi he says "Scan to the second event"

"Scanning to second event" Vi answers.

"The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute… seven seconds." Jenner explains as a small amount of red light starts flickering at the base of the brain but it doesn't go any further than that.

"It restarts the brain?" Lori asks in disbelief.

"No, just the brain stem, basically it gets them up and moving." Jenner replies.

"But they're not alive?" Rick asks.

"You tell me?" Says Jenner.

"It's nothing like it was before. Most of the brain is dark" Rick states staring at the video.

"Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part—that doesn't come back. The _you_ part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct." Jenner says.

There's a flash of light on the video and a hole is created right though the brain. "Oh God. What was that?" Carol asks.

"He shot is patient" Andrea states sounding disgusted "Didn't you?" she directs to Jenner.

"Vi, power down main screen and workstations" Jenner says.

"You have no idea what it is, do you?" Andrea asks.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal"

"Or the wrath of God" Jacqui puts in

"There is that" Jenner agrees.

"Somebody must know something? Somewhere?" Andrea asks desperately.

"There are others right? Other facilities?" Carol asks.

"There may be some, people like me" Jenner says unhelpfully.

"You don't know? How can you not know?" Rick asks.

"Everything went down. Communications, directives—all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month" Jenner says

"So it's not just here. There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing? That's what you're really saying, right?" Andrea says, as if confirming a suspicion.

"Jesus" Jacqui mutters.

"Man, I'm gonna get shit-faced drunk again" Daryl says putting his face in his hands.

"Doctor Jenner I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but…that clock—it's counting down. What happens at zero?" Dale asks looking panicked

"The basement Generators- they run out of fuel" Jenner replies

"And then?" asks Rick.

Jenner ignores him and leaves the room. I look over at Rick panicked "Vi? What happens when the generators run out of fuel?" I ask, knowing the answer but praying I'm wrong.

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur" Vi answers me.

Rick and I exchange glances before running for the basement followed by Shane, Glenn and T-Dog. "Decontamination, what does that mean?" Glenn asks as we run down the stairs.


	17. Let Us Go

"I don't like the way Jenner clammed up. The way he just wandered off like that" Shane says.

"What's wrong with him? Seriously, man. Is he nuts, medicated, what?" T-Dog asks.

Rick stops to look at a map.

"When I worked in labs" I word my sentence carefully "Decontamination meant, destruction of the sample or remains, in case of cross contamination"

The four men look at me, fear evident in their eyes.

"In there" Rick says moving towards a door.

We arrive in the generator room and Rick points in a direction and to T-dog and Glenn he says "check that way" He starts to walk in the opposite direction "Shane, Gwen"

Shane and I follow him looking for the generator, we find it and the gauge's arrow is pretty much on empty. Rick shakes the barrel and looks up at Shane and I "It's empty"

Then the lights go off and a dimmer set come on "Emergency lighting on" Vi says.

"fuck" I mutter staring at the generator.

"What the hell is this?" Shane asks no one in particular.

Glenn and T-dog come running up "Hey, you guys kill the light?" Glenn asks.

"Nah, it just went out" Shane replies.

"Anything?" Rick asks them

"Yeah, a lot of dead generators and more empty fuel drums than I can count" T-Dog states.

"It can't be just that one?" Shane says.

"Come on, lets get back, I don't like this" I say before turning and running for the door, back up the stairs and back to the main control room, followed by the others. I hear arguing and the Lori shouts Ricks name asking him what's going on.

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asks.

"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule." Jenner states, gesturing to the timer on the wall.

He takes a drink out of a whiskey bottle then hands it to Daryl who snatches it out of his hand angrily. "It was the French" Jenner says

"What?" asks Andrea.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution." He climbs the steps to the work stations.

"What happened?" Jacqui asks.

"The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?" Jenner says then walks away.

Shane goes after him "Let me tell you-"

Rick pulls him back "To hell with it, Shane! I don't even care" Then to us he says "Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here _now!"_

An alarm erupts causing us all of us to jump "What's that?" Shane snaps.

Carl repeats Shane, sounding terrified.

A big countdown clock appears on the big screen "30 minutes to decontamination" Vi's automated voice states.

"Doc, what's going on here?" Daryl yells, walking to my side and grabbing my wrist.

Nessa runs up to me and wraps her arm around my free arm and squeezes for dear life. Andy and I share a look and both of our eyes flick to the door. I nod.

"Everybody, y'all heard Rick." Shane shouts.

Everybody starts yelling and running for the door but a steel door slides up and seals us in. Rick runs up to it and hits it in vain before turning around looking pissed.

"No. Did you just lock us in? He just locked us in!" Glenn panics.

"Carl!" Lori calls, scared as hell. Carl runs into his mum's arms.

Daryl lets go of my wrist and runs for Jenner "You son of a bitch!" He yells

"Shane! Shane!" Rick yells for Shane to stop Daryl.

I rush forward, shaking off a panicked Nessa and fling my arms around Daryl's waist knocking him sideways and away from Jenner. He fights against me making it very hard to hold on but Shane and T-Dog grab him too.

"Jenner, open that door now" Rick demands.

"What's the point? Everything top side is locked down, the emergency exits are sealed" Jenner states.

I let go of Daryl's waist and stand up straight and turning to face the Doctor in disbelief.

"Well open the damn things" Dale argues.

"That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that. It's better this way." Jenner replies.

"Don't you dare!" I snap.

Rick looks at me then to Jenner "What happens in 28 minutes?" Rick asks. Jenner doesn't answer so Rick gets violent and pushes him "What happens?" He snaps

Jenner stands up shouting "You know what this place is?! We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" Jenner calms down then sits back down "In the event of a catastrophic power failure—in a terrorist attack, for example—H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Andrew screams. My eyes flick to him and my eyes widen at the look of uncharacteristic anger on my Nephew's face

"H.I.T's?" Rick asks looking at Andy.

"Vi, define?" Jenner commands

Vi answers "H.I.T.s—high-impulse thermo baric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5,000 degrees and 6,000 degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

"It sets the air in fire" Jenner states with a sick smile. "No pain. An end to sorrow, grief…regret. Everything"

I walk to Andy, grab his head and kiss his temple before drawing him to me with one arm. I am not dying now! My nephew is not dying now! I just got him back. My eyes water but the tears don't spill. Nessa on the other hand is holding onto me tightly and looks pissed.

Ten minutes later Jenner still refuses to open the door. Daryl launches a bottle at it and yells "open the damn door!" Then Him, Shane and T-dog try and break down the door.

At this point I'm sitting on the floor with Andy and Nessa not having a clue what to do, my helplessness sky high and I don't like it. I control my fate not Jenner. I stand up and walk over to him placing the bottle of tablets on the workstation in front of him.

"Why give me these if you're just going to force me to sit here and be blown up?" I ask harshly "What is the point in giving me health advice if you're forcing me to die?"

He just looks at me, a flicker of something flashes in his eyes before he simply looks away. I pick up the bottle and shove it in my pocket angrily and walk away from him.

"You should've left well enough alone it would have been so much easier." Jenner states as I walk away.

"Easier for who?" Lori snaps

"All of you. You know what's out there. A short brutal life and an agonizing death." Jenner replies then looks at Andrea "Your—your sister—what was her name?"

"Amy" Andrea replies

"Amy. You know what this does. You've seen it." Then to Rick Jenner says "Is that what you really want for your wife and son?"

"I don't want this!" Rick says desperately.

Shane comes over breathlessly "I can't make a dent"

"Those door are designed to withstand a rocket launcher" Jenner states

"Well your head ain't!" Daryl yells running at Jenner with his axe.

"Daryl, stop!" I shout, holding my hands out and jump between him and Jenner. He falters and Shane, Rick and T-Dog are on him, T-Dog rips the axe out of his hand.

I take a deep breath and run my hands over my face.

"You _do_ want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead." Jenner says to Rick.

I look at the man in shock, so does everyone else. "What? You really said that? After all you're big talk?" Shane says bitterly

"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" Rick says to Lori.

"There is no hope, there never was" Jenner states. This guy is really doing my head in.

"There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here but somebody somewhere—" Rick starts but Andrea interrupts him

"What part of 'everything's gone' don't you understand?"

"Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event" Jenner states.

"This isn't right" Carol says through tears "You can't just keep us here"

"One tiny moment—a millisecond. No pain." Jenner replies

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this" Carol cries, hugging Sophia close.

"Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate just to hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" Jenner says calmly.

"No" Andy snaps "What would be kind is if you let us the fuck out of here" He stands up angrily and starts walking around.

Nessa is still now standing and pacing angrily. I hold her arms to her side to try and stop her from flinging herself at Jenner. The Scottish anger is not something one should mess with. I hear a gun being cocked and I pull away from Nessa quickly and stand in front of her defensively. Shane has his shotgun to Jenner's face.

"Out of the way, Rick! Stay out of my way! Open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?" He shouts.

"Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this. We will never get out of here." Rick states as calmly as possible

"Listen to him Shane" I snap.

"If he dies we all die" Rick pleads but Shane starts shooting the monitors and the big screens, screaming wildly as he does so.

Rick wrestles the gun out of Shane's hands and smacks him in the face with it and Shane hits the deck. I walk backwards and my back makes contact with Daryl's chest. He squeezes my shoulder probably harder than he meant to.

"Are you done now? Are you done?" Risk asks him panting.

"Yeah I guess we all are" Shane replies darkly.

Rick gives the gun to T-Dog then looks around at us, thinking

"I think you're lying" He says to Jenner.

"What?" Jenner replies confused.

"You're lying about no hope. If that were true, you wouldn't have given Gwen those pills; you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?" Rick asks.

"It doesn't matter" Jenner replies.

"It does matter. It always matters. You stayed when others ran. Why?" Rick asks desperately.

"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise." He points to the screen "To her. My wife."

"Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori says shocked. Daryl's warmth disappears from my back.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?" Jenner says. Then a loud pounding could be heard from the door, Daryl was still trying "She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the _world_. Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field she was an _Einstein._ Me? I'm just… Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me." Jenner continues.

"Your wife didn't have a choice. You do. That's—that's all we want—a choice, a chance." Rick says.

"Let us keep trying as long as we can" Lori says tearfully, still holding Carl to her tightly.

"I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those." Jenner states while pressing buttons.

I breathe a sigh of relief as the doors open. I grab Nessa and Andrew and push them in front of me towards the door following straight behind then. Everyone stops at the door as people start to lag behind.

I turn "What the hell people lets go!" I shout.

"We only have 4 minutes left" Glenn shouts. I turn and keep going, keeping Andy, Nessa and Daryl in my sights at all times.

"No I'm staying!" I hear Jacqui shout. I stop in my tracks and swing round. "I'm staying sweetie" she says to T-Dog.

"That is insane" Says T-Dog as he tries to pull at her.

"No, it's completely sane. For the first time in the long time. I'm not ending up like Jim and Amy. There's no time to argue. And no point, not if you want to get out. Just get out. Get out." Jacqui says calmly.

We run for it, stopping briefly for our bags. We reach ground level and the guys start pounding at the doors and windows, trying to get us out. Shane even shoots the bastard glass but it won't budge.

"The glass won't break?" Sophia asks panicked.

"Rick!" Carol calls while digging for something "Rick, I have something that might help."

"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Shane says patronisingly.

Carol ignores him and produces a hand grenade and hands it to Rick "Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket."

Rick takes it and walks to the window, a pressure pushes me to the ground face first. There's a loud bang and the sound of glass shattering and I'm lifted to my feet and pulled to the broken window. I see now that it's Daryl. I look behind my shoulder desperately and Nessa has Andy's arm and is pulling him out the window shortly after Daryl and I.

We run to our vehicles knocking out walkers as we go, not stopping for double tapping. Daryl reaches his truck and pulls the door open and pushes me in and follows. I see Andy and Nessa bolt past me to the Honda. I see Andrea and Dale exit the building.

"Andrea and Dale are coming out!" I cry happily.

Daryl watches them for a minute before his eyes widen "Oh Shit!"

He pushes me down onto the floor of the truck and follows me, his body covering mine. There is a large explosion followed by another and another and the sounds of glass breaking and bricks crumbling. I cover my ears and press myself further to the floor. Daryl lifts himself off me and pulls me up too and I see the CDC still in flames and still falling apart. I run my hands through my hair and press my face into Daryl's shoulder. We sit there for a moment before Daryl starts the truck and follows the RV around the Roundabout and back the way we came yesterday.


End file.
